RAIL union RMT warned yesterday that the chaotic rail franchising disaster has taken a further turn for the worse.
The extension of the current First Great Western deal is teetering on the brink of chaos with just eight weeks left until the current contract expires with no new agreement in place.
The union is also warning that FGW are taking a lead amongst train operators in seeking to close down ticket offices by driving people to make on-line bookings or pay grossly inflated ticket prices or risk not getting a ticket at all.
As exclusively revealed by RMT, the government has a standby rescue plan to bring in the publicly owned Directly Operated Railways to run the Great Western franchise.
This is further fuelling speculation that talks on a contract extension with First Group are in serious trouble.
RMT is demanding that the publicly controlled fall-back position be put into place as a matter of urgency or risk the potential chaos of either having no operator in place by the cut-off date of the 12th October, or the sickening alternative of having to ladle millions of pounds of extra taxpayers’ cash into the pockets of First Group.
In what resembles little more than a high-stakes game of poker at public expense, First Group, who have massive financial problems linked to their US bus operations, are thought to be demanding millions of pounds of up-front cash payments in return for running the poorly-performing franchise as they seek to exploit what they believe is their monopoly provider position.
In a further move that is designed to force the closure of ticket offices and the sacking of station staff, First are lumping massive financial penalties on anyone who doesn’t pre-book on-line.
The implied threat is that if you don’t book on-line, not only will you be forced to pay through the nose but you may end up without a ticket at all – directly penalising those who may not have access to a computer and who rely on the help and support of ticket office staff.
RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: ‘It is clear that they are seeking to maximise what they believe is their monopoly provider position to bleed the route for every possible penny to prop up their battered balance sheet regardless of the cost to staff, passengers and the taxpayer alike.
‘First are now looking to drive through the closure of ticket offices, and the sacking of ticket office staff, by trying to force on-line bookings by lumping financial penalties and threats on those who want, or need, to buy a ticket at the station.
‘First Group have already soaked up over a billion pounds in taxpayer bailouts.
‘This nonsense could be ended right now with the Great Western route renationalised.’
