West Coast mainline fiasco to cost 'at least £50m'

9:38am Thursday 28th February 2013 in News

WESTMINSTER’s main financial watchdog has slammed the government for a “complete lack of common sense” over the West Coast Main Line franchise fiasco which will cost taxpayers “at least £50million”.

The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee’s report on the affair, which saw the contract awarded to First Group and then returned to Virgin after “serious flaws” were found in the tendering process, is scathing about the Department of Transport’s conduct.The route serves 31 million passengers linking at Preston with the line serving Blackburn, Clitheroe, Burnley, Nelson and Colne.

Margaret Hodge, who chairs the all-party committee of MPs, said: “The Department for Transport’s complete lack of common sense in the way it ran the West Coast franchise competition has landed the taxpayer with a bill of £50 million at the very least.

“The franchising process was littered with basic errors.”

Comments (1)

2:09pm Thu 28 Feb 13

Noiticer says...

If a local authority had wasted so much money the Government would have come down on it like a ton of bricks. Just think how many small rail improvements the £50 millions could have been used on - never mind new rolling stock for NW England!
If a local authority had wasted so much money the Government would have come down on it like a ton of bricks. Just think how many small rail improvements the £50 millions could have been used on - never mind new rolling stock for NW England! Noiticer

Comments are closed on this article.

click2find

About cookies

We want you to enjoy your visit to our website. That's why we use cookies to enhance your experience. By staying on our website you agree to our use of cookies. Find out more about the cookies we use.

I agree