05.10.18
May 2018 timetable: ORR launches probe into potential GTR and Northern licence breach
The ORR has opened an investigation into whether GTR and Northern breached their requirements to do everything reasonably practice to provide accurate and timely information to passengers in the run-up to, and during, the May 2018 timetable fiasco.
In its timetable inquiry last month, the regulator identified concerns with the information made available to passengers who use Northern and GTR’s Thameslink and Great Northern services – all of which were extensively affected by the new timetable roll-out.
It has now decided to investigate whether the TOCs have contravened Condition 4 of their ‘statement of national regulatory provisions,’ which requires operators to provide “appropriate, accurate and timely information to enable railway passengers and prospective passengers to plan and make their journeys with a reasonable degree of assurance” – including when there is disruption.
The ORR will use evidence gathered from its current monitoring and inquiry to date, as well as any further information provided during the course of its investigation, which it hopes to conclude before the end of November.
The regulator has also written to both operators for their responses and said it will welcome further engagement with either TOC up until 12 October.
If the two companies are found to be in breach of their licence obligations, it could result in formal enforcement action such as a fine. However, the opening of the investigation does not imply that the ORR has made any findings about non-compliance by either TOC.
(Top image: Owen Humphreys, PA Wire)