Go Ahead chief: Don’t blame me for poor service

THE transport boss who runs three of the most hated railway lines in Britain has hit back at critics after posting a 16.6pc jump in half-year profits, writes Rupert Steiner.

David Brown, chief executive of bus and train operator Go Ahead, said the poor service was not his fault – but he did manage an apology. It came after consumer association Which? published its fifth annual rail satisfaction survey revealing Go Ahead’s Southern, Thameslink and Great Northern lines were the worst in terms of value, available seats, cleanliness and punctuality. Brown blamed work being done to upgrade London Bridge station by Network Rail for the poor performance.

But he added: ‘I’m not ducking the issue. I’m telling it how it is. I’m fully responsible for the bits I control and I share the frustrations of passengers. Absolutely I apologise.’

The firm comprises three divisions – the rail arm, London buses, and also regional buses which run operations in Brighton, Plymouth and Oxford.

The London bus division, which operates a quarter of all routes in the capital, also saw dismal earnings.

It missed performance bonuses, due to delays, causing operating profit to fall 4.4pc to £21.7m.

Brown said this was due to congestion caused by the building of the cycle super highway in London.

In his previous role as a managing director for Transport for London, he introduced the cycle hire scheme which has caused the explosion of bicycles in the capital.

Despite performance setbacks the firm is in rude financial health posting pre-tax profit of £52.1m for the six months to December 26, up from £44.7m, on sales of £1.6bn.

It proposed to hike the interim dividend by 6.5pc to 28.33p a share.

Brown claimed he could not use bumper profits to bring down prices for delayed services because the Government sets ticket prices.

Shares jumped 135p to 2384p.