Arriva apparently took the same view as Stagecoach hence them going legal too.If that is indeed the case then on the face of it, it seems Stagecoach might ha e a strong case.
Arriva apparently took the same view as Stagecoach hence them going legal too.If that is indeed the case then on the face of it, it seems Stagecoach might ha e a strong case.
I can only assume that they never expected anybody to put in a bid which took on the risk
High Court has approved Stagecoach, Virgin and Arrivas’ legal challenge and it will now go to trial, DfT has lost their motion to dismiss.
This just got interesting.
If they win legal challenge on East Midlands Franchise what happens?
I do not see that they can unseat the the new franchisee so if the DfT lose they will have to pay compensation equal to the estimated profit that Stagecoach would have made for the length of the contract.
Is there a source? Also what would the potential implications of this be? Could it mean further delay in awarding the West Coast Partnership or could it mean the franchise tending process may have to start again?High Court has approved Stagecoach, Virgin and Arrivas’ legal challenge and it will now go to trial, DfT has lost their motion to dismiss.
You never know the West Coast Partnership franchise might even end up being nationalised. Rail franchising is in a right complete mess.
Wouldn't bank on it. Further direct awards would be more likely and even that I should imagine would be in very extreme circumstances. What do other posters think?You never know the West Coast Partnership franchise might even end up being nationalised. Rail franchising is in a right complete mess.
You never know the West Coast Partnership franchise might even end up being nationalised. Rail franchising is in a right complete mess.
Exactly. Other than a franchise effectively going bust, why would they take the keys back when there's a profitable private operator running it already who could be given a direct award.It is indeed a complete mess. However, up until now, the sense I have is that the Tories have been so ideologically opposed to nationalisation that they will do anything to avoid it (other than as a very temporary measure). So my suspicion is that nationalisation is not going to be on the agenda, unless either we have a general election and the Tories lose or (maybe) if Boris Johnson changes direction.
Boris Johnson cares about getting votes. Given that he was seemingly ok with TfL taking on more territory for London Overground, plus he’d be aware of how unpopular the current franchise system is (& how popular the idea of public ownership is) among the public, not to mention the complete mess of the current system & competitions. Throw in a chance to decidedly break from the Gr*yl*ng era, & I wouldn’t be too surprised to see him endorse some form of public ownership or partnership. Especially if he needs to win a pre-Brexit election, it could be enough to see off the Lib Dem threat (as he’d see it) in much of the south.
Grant Shapps has a new team and they will probably reset the SE and WC franchise competitions for after Williams/Brexit.
Nationalise is the wrong word - that needs primary legislation which is not going to happen under the Tories.
Grant Shapps has a new team and they will probably reset the SE and WC franchise competitions for after Williams/Brexit.
In the meantime more direct awards kicks the can down the road, if the incumbents are interested - if not it's a temporary OLR setup like LNER.
The legal challenge is to either (a) be reinstated as bidders, or (b) get their bid costs back at least.
Who do we think would bother bidding again for the WCP if reset after this farce and that of pensions?
Hopefully the whole process will be reviewed after Williams. Its better to do that than award the franchises to someone likely to make them worse, which has happened in pretty much all recent franchise awards.
Lets wait til Williams Review is finished who knows it may be a different process entirely.
Lets wait til Williams Review is finished who knows it may be a different process entirely.
I love this idea that the review is going to be anything other than a whitewash to let hirsute tax dodgers and moral-free evangelical Neil Sedaka fanatics continue to rinse us
Either we get more of the same, or we row back to 1996 and the glories of, er, Silverlink, Connex and SWT. Nothing else, nothing good, will ever come of privatisation.
Yeah because currently one thing of note is there are no strikes at all.... oh hang on!We may as well just shut the lot down then because nothing good will ever come of letting incompetent governments run things incompetently!
We could go back to the 'good ol days' of letting the unions run the show under a Labour government, strikes and strikes and if your lucky more strikes.
We may as well just shut the lot down then because nothing good will ever come of letting incompetent governments run things incompetently!
We could go back to the 'good ol days' of letting the unions run the show under a Labour government, strikes and strikes and if your lucky more strikes.
Not sure if this has been noted before, but according to The Times the trial of this case is set for January, and Chris Grayling and Peter Wilkinson (DfT franchising director) are expected to be called as witnesses.
Meanwhile apparently the South Eastern franchise competition has been cancelled with Govia getting an extension.
Not sure if anything has been decided about West Coast.