Union slams ‘reward for total failure’

Union bosses slammed the co-owner of Southern after it revealed profits increased to nearly £100 million a day after it was announced the network would get a £20 million government handout.

The RMT did not hold back at the news pre-tax profits had grown 27% at the Go-Ahead Group, describing the franchise as in “total meltdown” while “cash has been sloshing through the boardroom at obscene levels”.

Last Thursday, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling announced £20m would be ploughed into the operator as part of a package of measures to tackle its ongoing problems.

Southern operates two main routes in Kent – the Tonbridge to London route via Redhill and the Ashford to Brighton line via Hastings.

Last month, the RMT announced a further 48-hour strike yesterday (Wednesday) and today (Thursday) in its long-running dispute with the operator about the role of guards. Staff have already walked out three times this year.

Go-Ahead increased revenues across all its companies by 4.5% to £3.4 billion while pre-tax profits reached £99.8m, up 26.8%.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: “This is reward for total failure on a scale which is off the map.

“Just a fraction of these profits would be enough to keep the guards on Southern trains, keep the passengers safe and resolve the industrial dispute between RMT and the company.

“It is shameful that they have opted to hoard cash instead of protecting the travelling public.

“This profit announcement comes just a day after the government propped up Southern with yet another £20m of taxpayers cash.

“The company could clearly fund improvements themselves if they weren’t wholly dedicated to trousering fare-payers’ money in shed loads.”

Mr Cash added he felt it is “deeply cynical” that Go Ahead made its profit announcement “so it doesn’t clash with the strike action by guards next week”.

“They are a money-raking disaster that has turned Britain’s railways into a global laughing stock and they should be slung out and replaced by the public sector option.”

A Southern spokesperson said: “Southern made zero profits last year. All our income went into delivering the service.

“The profits figure being reported relates to other businesses owned by our parent company, primarily the bus division. Southern is not expected to make a profit in the coming year either.

“The £20m fund announced by the DfT last week is nearly all to be spent by Network Rail improving its infrastructure so that services run more punctually.

“We are sincerely sorry for the service passengers have been experiencing. We are doing our level best to improve things and today restored 119 of our trains to the timetable.”

‘It is shameful that they have opted to hoard cash instead of protecting the travelling public’

Scores took up the offer to take part in a bat walk around Singleton lake and inset, a pipistrelle bat