By Dr John Williams, Site Editor.

George Osborne MP, was caught today sitting in First Class on a Virgin Train service on a Standard Class ticket.

According to reports posted online by the ITV journalist Rachel Townsend, George Osborne boarded the 15.11 train to London Euston station at Wilmslow in Cheshire on Friday afternoon and went directly to sit in a first-class carriage despite only having paid the standard fare.

An aide (read slave) approached the Train Manager and stated that he “..is travelling with George and he has a standard ticket but can he remain in first class?”

The Train Manager correctly said “No”.
The aide then said “Osborne couldn’t possibly sit in standard class”.
The Train Manager replied saying “If he wants to stay it’s £160.”
The aide said “He couldn’t pay and he couldn’t really sit in standard.”

The Train Manager quite rightly refused to budge and continued to collect tickets for the rest of the passengers in First Class who actually had First Class tickets. The Train Manager later told the ITV journalist that Osborne had agreed to cough up the £160.

A statement from Virmin Trains said:

“The chancellor was in first class with a standard-class ticket. It wasn’t a dispute or even a discussion with him. An aide of his spoke to the train manager and asked to pay the upgrade. We’re not aware of any dispute.”

He said the total paid was £189.50, but said it was unclear whether that was the price of an upgrade, or whether Osborne had had to pay for an entirely new ticket.

So Virmin will you be sending a sly refund to him and sending a donation to the Tory Party as a thanks for being given a 9-12 Month Extension on your franchise?? Hmm I wonder.

Apparently via a carefully worded statement issued by the Treasury

The Chancellor had a diary change and he and his aide got a different train. They say that their existing seat reservations did not apply.

The train was crowded so they decided to upgrade from standard class to first class and they always intended to pay the difference.

It says the Chancellor is not aware of any row with a ticket officer.

Funny that the ITV journalist tweeted that George made absolutely no attempt to sit in standard class, despite what the Treasury statement states.

John Williams - Chief Editor

The DfT has cancelled the upcoming franchise of the West Coast Mainline awarded to FirstGroup. The Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin has admitted that there were significant technical flaws in the way that they franchise bidding process was conducted. He has also confirmed that two official inquiries are to be carried out into the way the process was handled.

The tax payer is likely to have to foot the bill of up to £50 million as the DfT is set to refund the costs that were incurred by all of the shortlisted bidders for the West Coast franchise.

Mr McLoughlin said:

“I have had to cancel the competition for the running of the West Coast franchise because of deeply regrettable and completely unacceptable mistakes made by my department in the way it managed the process.

“A detailed examination by my officials into what happened has revealed these flaws and means it is no longer possible to award a new franchise on the basis of the competition that was held.

“I have ordered two independent reviews to look urgently and thoroughly into the matter so that we know what exactly happened and how we can make sure our rail franchise programme is fit for purpose.”

He added:

“West Coast passengers can rest assured that while we seek urgently to resolve the future arrangements the trains that run now will continue to run, with the same drivers, the same staff and timetables as planned. The tickets that people have booked will continue to be valid and passengers will be able to make their journeys as planned.”

In a statement released by FirstGroup, indicated they had no idea that there were any issues with the franchise letting process and had been assured by the DfT that the processes were robust and it expected to press on with the signing of the contract with FirstGroup.

“Until this point we had absolutely no indication that there were any issues with the franchise letting process and had received assurances from the DfT that its processes were robust and that it expected to sign the contract with FirstGroup soon,” the company said.

“We are extremely disappointed to learn this news and await the outcome of the DfT’s inquiries. The DfT has made it clear to us that we are in no way at fault, having followed the due process correctly. We submitted a strong bid, in good faith and in strict accordance with the DfT’s terms. Our bid would have delivered a better deal for West Coast passengers, the taxpayer and an appropriate return for shareholders.”

Mr McLoughlin has also halted the Great Western, Essex Thameside and Thameslink competitions “pending the independent reviews, which are designed to ensure future competitions are robust and deliver best value for passengers and taxpayers”.

The first independent review will be conducted by independent advisers and overseen by Centrica chief executive Sam Laidlaw and former PricewaterhouseCoopers strategy chairman Ed Smith.

The second independent review will be undertaken by Eurostar chairman Richard Brown. This will report back by the end of December.

By Patrick Hardie

Virgin Trains has lost control of the west coast mainline, a line it has run for 15 years.

The D(a)fT handed the contract to FirstGroup after, what is being described as, a suicide bid of around £6 billion.

The bearded one, Richard Branson, in the style of being a sore looser, is now going to ask for a judicial review of the decision.

FirstGroup already has a registered company called First West Coast.

By Chris Wilson

The following brief has been published by ATOC, if any member of the Armed Forces is challenged over this, they should ask the member of staff to refer to Newsrail Express on the internal “The Manual” Pages. Military ID is a MOD90 and we belive that this offer only extends to the direct member of the forces. IE not dependant/wife/partner/etc.

Brief is as follows:

Free travel for military personnel supporting security during the 2012 Games.

Train Companies and Transport for London have agreed to offer free Standard Class travel to all military personnel supporting Games security and when travelling in or out of uniform with immediate effect and until 23:59 Tuesday 11 September as follows:

• Throughout the London Fare Zones 1-9, inclusive of Watford Junction and Heathrow Airport, on all National Rail, Heathrow Express, Heathrow Connect, Tube, DLR, London bus and tram services.

Additionally, during the same dates the Train Companies have agreed to offer free Standard Class travel to all military personnel supporting Games security when travelling in uniform only on:

• any National Rail service to or from London, except Grand Central and Caledonian Sleeper services;

• services to/from the following Games Venue stations: Cheshunt, Leigh-on-Sea, Slough, Windsor & Eton Riverside and Sevenoaks.

Military personnel travelling under these arrangements will not require a ticket and should be allowed entry and exit through ticket gates.

A retail brief is currently being circulated via TOC retail support teams.

Further information and specimens of military personnel IDs will be published in the ‘Olympics (2012 Games)‘ section from 30 July.

Item submitted by ATOC Marketing
25 July 2012

By John Williams, Chief Editor

We are currently hearing various rumours from different sources, including that of First Capital Connects own Service Delivery Centre, that the majority of drivers working for First Capital Connect Great Northern route have decided to hold a Barbecue tomorrow.

The drivers are in effect exercising their contractual right not to work Sundays. Sunday working is still voluntary and FCC rely on Drivers working overtime to cover it.

An anonymous FCC SDC source is quoted a saying “there are loads of cancellations on the GN and the disruption is gonna be massive”.

We understand that the Drivers are exercising their contractual right because of First Capital Connect employing new drivers. Apparently because of these newly passed-out drivers the existing drivers are loosing their overtime which they have been getting for some many years.

Obviously we will have to wait and see if tomorrow happens as is rumoured.

A member of FCC twitter said “Hi, no information at present, an update will be on put on the website if there are to be any changes ^Lewis”

The website continues to remains silent on the issue with platform monitors telling customers to check before travelling tomorrow, yet don’t state the reason.

By Patrick Hardie.

The RMT Union and First Great Western have come to an agreement in regards to Olympic and Paralympic additional payments.

The details are as follows:
Colleagues based Paddington to Slough inclusive:
To receive a one-off additional gross payment of £300

Colleagues based Burnham to Reading inclusive:
To receive a one-off additional gross payment of £150

All other colleagues across the whole of the First Great Western network:
To receive a one-off gross payment of £100

Drivers, Guards and On Board Service colleagues working the additional overnight services receive an additional premium of 75% on time worked.

Station colleagues working additional overnight shifts to dispatch the additional overnight services receive an additional premium of 75% on time worked.

Sunday Working:
Staff at Ealing Broadway and Paddington working on Sundays during the Olympic period will get an additional premium of 50%.

By Patrick Hardie, Industrial Relations Editor.

The RMT has today confirmed that ballots for strike action and action short of strike will begin this week following breakdown in talks on three major London Train Operators:

First Great Western
Greater Anglia
South West Trains.

Ballot papers will be sent to members this week with the votes closing on thursday 19th July. With a legal notification period of 7 days the earliest legal strike for all three companies could be 27th July. This is the date of the Olympics Opening Ceremony.

The ballots come as RMT confirmed that it has now concluded substantial recognition and reward agreements on First Capital Connect, C2C, Chiltern, East Midlands Trains and East Coast to add to the industry benchmarked deals on Heathrow Express, Virgin, Network Rail, DLR and London Underground amongst others.

First Great Western recently said that the ballot was “money for nothing on a grand scale for an extra 9 trains”. This statement was removed from the FGW website and reappeared some few days later.  First Capital Connect offered either a payment of £500 or £26per hour and yet it’s sister company cannot even match that with its latest rumoured offers.

Greater Anglia has only recently taken over the NXEA franchise and already it has slipped to be the worst train operator in the UK in the latest National Passenger Survey, even worse then First Capital Connect which ‘held’ that position for some while.

South West Trains claims that an agreement was made regarding Olympics Payments at the last pay talks and as such no extra payments will be made.

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said:

“With deals now concluded that recognise the massive additional effort of the workforce on the vast majority of transport operators it is a scandal that SW Trains, Greater Anglia and First Great Western have decided to try and force their staff to work longer and harder for little or nothing in return.

We all want the Olympics to be a success but we cannot have fairness on some train companies and a slap round the face on others.

It is rail staff who will be sticking in the extra work required to deliver the transport challenge of the Olympics, these train companies will be making a killing from the extra passengers and services and they should have the decency to match the best practice on payments across the rest of the industry.

RMT is campaigning for a massive yes vote in these ballots and we remain available for meaningful talks to resolve these disputes mindful that the clock is ticking down.”

A South West Trains spokesman said:

“We are disappointed the union has decided to press ahead with this unnecessary ballot. We negotiated a deal with the RMT in good faith and we have stuck to it. We want the union to be 100% clear about our position: we will not be renegotiating our agreement that already covers Olympic arrangements.

This means we will not be paying more money and that situation will not change even if RMT members vote for a strike or other industrial action. We would urge union members to think carefully about the issues before they decide which way to vote. Industrial action, whether it is a strike or anything else, will be unnecessary and will not change anything.

The country does not want to see any disruption or threat of it during the Olympics. It should be a showcase event for the nation. We will always support our staff to help them deliver the best service they can for customers and we will ensure that happens during the Games.”

Great Western have told us that the press statement from 22nd June 2012 remains unaltered:

“We have just received official notification from the RMT about their intention to ballot, so it is difficult to comment specifically at this stage.  However, we are willing to discuss their concerns with a view to reaching a successful conclusion.

On top of the 1,500 timetabled services we run every day, on average we will be running fewer than 9 additional scheduled services a day during the Games – that’s an increase of just over 0.5 per cent.

The vast majority of our staff will come to work during the Olympics and do what they do every other day of the year.  We have many major events and extremely busy times of the year on our network, and we expect the Olympics to be no different.

For clarity, the RMT is asking  for extra money for all on-board and stations staff in the company working during the Olympics from as far and wide as Cornwall, South Wales and the North Cotswolds, regardless of whether they are affected by additional Olympics passengers or not.  Quite simply, this is ‘money for nothing’ on a grand scale when we should be celebrating this great national event.”

A Greater Anglia spokesperson said:

We’re disappointed that the RMT Union is intending to organise a ballot. We will continue to progress the constructive discussions that are taking place over this matter with the RMT and our staff representatives.”

More when we get it.

Due to major disruption on the West Coast mainline tonight, First ScotRail Caledonian Sleeper services have all been cancelled tonight and will not leave their departing stations.

Coaches will remain at their respective departing stations to provide overnight accommodation for passengers.

Update
There is a slight possibility that the later departures: London to/from Glasgow and Edinburgh may run. We will update you as soon as we have further information.

Caledonian Sleeper Services run by First ScotRail may be delayed due to flooding and a landslip between Penrith and Oxenholme.

Sleeper services may not be able to run to planned destinations.

If the West Coast Mainline remains closed:
Southbound Sleepers from Aberdeen/Fort William/Inverness may terminate at Edinburgh to be used as overnight accommodation.
Sleepers from Glasgow /Edinburgh may not depart again may be used as overnight accommodation.

Northbound Sleepers may not depart from London Euston and again may be used as overnight accommodation.

Customers are advised to check information and await a possible phone call from First ScotRail if services are severely disrupted.