Branson: I really hate lateness (er, what about your trains, Richard?)
WHEN you run one of the country’s least reliable train services, it’s probably unwise to preach about the importance of punctuality.
Billionaire Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson grumbled about his pet hate – lateness – and faced a furious backlash from disgruntled passengers.
In a message on Twitter to his 12.4million followers, the tycoon wrote: ‘There’s very little that annoys me in life, but people turning up late really does. Punctuality shows organisation and respect for others.’
To emphasise the point, the entrepreneur posted a picture of himself running to a meeting. And he included a link to a blog post where he explained he learned the importance of punctuality from his father.
It added that turning up on time ‘shows you are serious, and it shows you are organised. But most importantly it shows you are respectful of other people’s time and their value.’
But Sir Richard’s sermon did not go down well with passengers who have suffered delays or cancellations on Virgin trains.
Rebecca Reid wrote: ‘About 30 per cent of the times I’ve been late it’s been because of one of your trains mate’.
Another commuter wrote: ‘Have you ever been on one of your b****** trains?’
And Laurence Turner replied: ‘After East Coast was privatised by Virgin, punctuality fell from 82 per cent to 73 per cent.’
Virgin operates the West Coast line from London to Glasgow. Until recently it ran the Virgin East Coast line to Edinburgh in partnership with Stagecoach. The franchise collapsed earlier this year following heavy losses and it had to be re-nationalised. A damning report by MPs published yesterday said Virgin and Stagecoach bid too much for the franchise before running out of cash. Official figures show the two Virgin rail services are among the least punctual in the UK. A report from the Office of Rail and Road shows that in the year to March, punctuality on Virgin East Coast fell to the lowest level in 13 years, with 18.5 per cent of trains arriving more than ten minutes late. Only three other train services out of 27 in Britain were less reliable. Passengers on the Virgin West Coast line fared little better. The company was ranked 21st out of 27 train operators for reliability. Just over six in every 100 services were cancelled or significantly late, as reliability dropped to the lowest level for eight years. Virgin has also been criticised for expensive fares.
A company spokesman said: ‘We know punctuality is hugely important to our customers – and rightly so. We work hard to make sure our trains run on time and we have one of the highest customer satisfaction scores in the industry.’
‘It shows you are respectful’