Passengers take DfT to court

The Association of British Commuters (ABC) has failed in its attempt to secure a Judicial Review into the way the Department for Transport has handled Southern Railway.

But the passenger group claimed a partial success, as the judge gave DfT 14 days to publish its decision on whether Southern’s poor performance was due to the company’s shortcomings or to circumstances outside its control - so-called force majeure.

At the High Court the judge, Mr Justice Ouseley, was told the Secretary of State for Transport had taken 14 months to reach a decision, which amounted to an “unreasonable” delay and was at the heart of whether he had carried out his legal duty.

But the judge rejected the commuters’ argument that the Government was in breach of equality legislation because of reduced access for disabled passengers.

A DfT spokesman said: “We are pleased the High Court has thrown out the application for a Judicial Review. An independent report by rail expert Chris Gibb made it very clear that the responsibility for disruption on Southern was primarily caused by industrial action and exceptional amounts of staff sick leave.

“We have been considering whether the extensive disruption to the line was entirely beyond Govia Thameslink Railway’s control, and our decision was due to be communicated to the company imminently.”

ABC had used crowd-funding to raise the money to bring the High Court hearing. The judge ordered that the passenger group should pay two-thirds of the Transport Secretary’s £25,900 legal costs.

Co-founder Emily Yates said: “We are disappointed he did not accept our case about disability access, but we regard this as a victory and our campaign will continue.”

A Government decision was due as this issue of RAIL closed for press.