Avanti West Coast contract extension a “reward for abject failure”, Haigh says

Louise Haigh has described the contract extension awarded to Avanti West Coast as a “reward for abject failure” and a “slap in the face for passengers”.

Avanti West Coast was told to “drastically improve services” today as the Department for Transport confirmed that the operator would continue to run its London to Glasgow route for at least a further six months, until April 2023.

“This failing operator has caused travel misery, and the government’s answer is to hand over millions more in taxpayers’ cash and consign passengers to another six months of chaos,” the Shadow Transport Secretary said.

“If the government had any interest in doing their job, they would strip this failing operator of the contract, and finally put passengers first.

“This chaotic short-term decision making is precisely what has held back long-term planning on the rail network. That’s why Labour would bring our railways into public ownership as contracts expire.”

Avanti West Coast was criticised in August for drastically reducing its timetable, with service between London and Manchester worst affected. Transport Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan described the operator’s performance as “unacceptable”.

The minister claimed that “the company has taken positive steps to get more trains moving” but must do more, adding: “We have agreed a six-month extension to Avanti to assess whether it is capable of running this crucial route to a standard passengers deserve and expect.”

Avanti West Coast cuts its timetable from seven trains per hour to four in August, citing “severe staff shortages” as the cause. The company has consistently relied on its employees working overtime to deliver the services it promises.

The operator accused trade union ASLEF of undertaking “unofficial” strike action earlier this year. “The truth is the company does not employ enough drivers to deliver the services it has promised,” an ASLEF spokesperson said at the time.

Avanti said 250 journeys a week are normally staffed by drivers working overtime but staffing had dropped to levels that would cover under ten trips. Drivers at a number of train companies, including Avanti West Coast, often work rest days which ASLEF said operators depend on.

ASLEF organiser Kevin Lindsay said today: “Amongst the train operating companies, Avanti are amongst the worst – failing their employees and the public alike. To reward their consistent failure by extending their contract for the London to Glasgow service is nothing more than a slap in the face to passengers and staff.

He urged that the decision to award the extension be “called in and reversed urgently”, saying the move is “as baffling as their claims about recruitment” and accusing the operator of having “misled passengers and politicians” by making claims of 100 new drivers “when in fact the number is around half that”.

“Industrial Relations with Avanti are at an all-time low, their sent bully-boy management style has led to the present pay dispute but ASLEF has a number of industrial issues with the company,” Lindsay added.

Andy Burnham warned that “the company’s failure to put forward an acceptable rescue plan, and the government’s failure to set really clear conditions and deadlines means that very few people in Greater Manchester will support this extension”.

“We just need good services and a full timetable back as soon as possible,” the Greater Manchester mayor added.

Haigh confirmed Labour’s plans to renationalise the railways at the party’s annual conference last month as she told members that “Avanti West Coast has become just the latest poster boy of the failing status quo”.

She described the operator as “the worst performing operator in the country”, adding: “What have the Tories done in response?   They handed them £19m including – and you couldn’t make this up – £4m in performance bonuses. Out of the pockets of the public, and directly into the hands of shareholders.”