31.08.12
WCML decision ‘unlawful’
Virgin Trains has labelled the transport secretary’s decision to award the WCML franchise to FirstGroup “unlawful” as the company seeks to launch a judicial review into the proceedings.
The £13.3bn contract was due to be signed on Wednesday, but the legal challenge has provided a delay.
Virgin has suggested that the DfT should have ordered FirstGroup to provide a much higher guarantee against the risk that it will fail to honour the contract.
A DfT spokesperson said: “We will fight these claims robustly and show clearly that these allegations by Virgin and their business partners Stagecoach are ill-founded and misconceived. We expect to sign the contract soon.
“We will not comment at this time on specific allegations made in the court pleadings but will respond in detail shortly. We are confident that our process is robust and that the decision reached was absolutely the right one for taxpayers and passengers.”
The company is also calling for FirstGroup to clarify its franchise commitments through a series of published obligations detailing investment in stations and fleet.
Tony Collins, Virgin CEO, said: “So far we have had an interesting wish-list from FG but no firm commitments and our customers and MPs would expect to know more about these before any contract is signed by the Government.
“In any event, our firm commitments are more extensive than FG’s wish-list. It is time for Mr O’Toole to come clean and reveal the true commitments.”
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