West Coast Rail Franchise?.....what A Mucking Fess
- Thread starter marsa69
- Start date
Dog Star
Western Thunderer
And for once the colour does not seem to be the key question....All I can say about the whole sorry episode is that it's going to be fun watching MP's and the Civil service try and squirm their way out of this one
marsa69
Western Thunderer
Well you could say that senior government officials will have been purple with rage when they found out the news, those who cocked up will be left red faced, some will be green with envy that they aren't the ones sticking the boot in and questions will be asked until people are blue in the face! There! is that better? 
Tony West
Western Thunderer
Patience......!!!!What I can't understand is where has this figure of £40 million come from and how do they reach that figure that us plebs have to foot the bill for.
....out of thin air as usual !!...or B, they have applied the "fair(!!) and robust" franchise bid formulae !!!!
It's their ba**s up, why should we have to pay it's the governments mess.
Penance for electing the ba**ar** !
Can things get much worse.
28ten
Guv'nor
The 40mil is to reimburse the four companies who wasted their time and money tendering for the contract. Plus I would guess First group will be looking for compensation for the drop in their share price.
The minister concerned doesnt have much to do with the technicalities of the process, he/she just carries the can. The ones who have really stuffed it are the civil servants in the department of transport, they are responsible for the whole farce.
The minister concerned doesnt have much to do with the technicalities of the process, he/she just carries the can. The ones who have really stuffed it are the civil servants in the department of transport, they are responsible for the whole farce.
Wagonman
Western Thunderer
I would suggest the ultimate blame lies with the Major government (politicos, civil servants and 'advisors') for wishing this whole damned farrago of nonsense on us in the first place. The sooner the whole system is re-nationalised the better. That will save us plebs a couple of £billion a year for starters...
Richard
mth
Western Thunderer
Pity they have to give 25years notice before they can re-nationlise...................
3 LINK
Western Thunderer
There has been three "Transport ministers" since the Tories came to power, but what angers me is that none of them have had a career in transport so why should they have the post ? That's like giving me a scalpel and becoming a brain surgeon over night 
.
The post should go to someone who has worked in that sector and knows the job inside out.
Martyn.
.The post should go to someone who has worked in that sector and knows the job inside out.
Martyn.
iploffy
OC Blue Brigade
You know something we could go on about this for along time but the consensus of opinion remains the same privatization wrong, government wrong, and slowly it is coming to pass that we were right all along. I along with others on this forum work on the railway, starting in BR days when what we had is what we had, a coherent transport system where connections met and so on.......... we were poorly paid with long hours but we belonged to a big family and enjoyed going to work, money wasn't all it was about to most (it was important), mess room banter, practical jokes, being stitched up by TCI's all gone RIP BR even if they re-nationalized it tomorrow it still wouldn't be the same. They killed it
daifly
Western Thunderer
Why? The Minister is just the senior administrator. Would you prefer an ex-lorry driver who probably knows nothing about air transport, or an ex-railwayman who probably knows little about buses (or even about RUNNING a railway system)?
mth
Western Thunderer
3 LINK
Western Thunderer
Well Richard Branson seems to cope OK, but personally I would put Jeremy Clarkson in charge, but as far as I'm concerned this is just a trumped up job that's NOT needed, in other words boll**ks.
Wagonman
Western Thunderer
The Minister is basically there to carry the can when everybody else screws up, or so it seems. Maybe I've watched too many episodes of "The Thick Of It"...
With a lot of franchises coming up for renewal now is very much the time for a rethink of the whole stupid system. Not going to hold my breath with this lot in power.
Richard
With a lot of franchises coming up for renewal now is very much the time for a rethink of the whole stupid system. Not going to hold my breath with this lot in power.
Richard