Petition calls for East Coast to be nationalised

A petition calling for the East Coast Mainline to be brought back into public ownership will be handed to the Government today.

Activists will hand in the petition calling on Chris Grayling, the Transport Secretary, not to “bail out” the Stagecoach/virgin franchise.

Mr Grayling said earlier this month that Stagecoach would continue running the London to Edinburgh line only for “a small number of months”, revealing the Government may step in to run the service.

The petition, initiated by campaign group We Own It, said Stagecoach and Virgin had failed, adding: “Bring East Coast into public ownership now.”