‘Completely unacceptable’: Scarborough and Whitby MP supports nationalisation of TransPennine Express service

Sir Robert Goodwill, the MP for Scarborough and Whitby, has told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that he would be in favour of renationalising the service currently run by TransPennine Express due to its “atrocious” record of cancellations.

It comes as the rail company, which is due to have its contract renewed next month, has been found to have the highest rate of train cancellations in the country, according to the rail regulator.

On Wednesday, April 19, the secretary of state for transport, Mark Harper, told parliament’s transport committee that “no option is off the table” when it comes to making a decision on TransPennine Express’ (TPE) contract next month.

The member of parliament for Scarborough and Whitby, Sir Robert Goodwill, described the service provided by TPE as “completely unacceptable”.

Asked if he would support the service being taken into national ownership, Sir Robert said: “Yes, but that would have to come with an action plan as to how we can improve it.”

“Every time I go to York Station on Monday morning to go to London, there are at least two cancellations towards Scarborough which they say is down to short notice changes in the timetable, which I don’t believe for a minute,” said Sir Robert.

He told the LDRS: “I don’t think they deserve to have their franchise renewed and I think every single person I know is making that point to the transport secretary.”

He added: “I’m sure TransPennine are doing what they can and failing to turn it around.

“If we do take it back into, in effect, public ownership, we need a plan as to how we are going to sort that out.”

The MP, who has announced that he will not be standing for re-election for the seat he has held since 2005, said that part of the action plan for improving the service should be to “address the inflexibility that the unions impose on their drivers.”

He said: “If we took it over on Monday morning, nothing would change overnight.

“We all need to work together and in particular the unions need to come to a reasonable settlement regarding their wages.”

Sir Robert said that while “some of the disruption has been caused by strike action” the bulk of the blame was “down to the ineffectiveness of TransPennine.”

The MP said he had been contacted by members of the public who had missed flights and whose jobs had been put at risk because the service had made getting to work “so unreliable”.

A spokesperson for TransPennine Express said: “Cancellations are now down by around 40 per cent since our recovery plan was introduced.

“However, in order to further substantially reduce cancellations for customers and all those who depend on the North’s connectivity, we have been trying to secure an overtime pay deal with ASLEF for drivers who wish to volunteer for additional shifts.”

The spokesperson added: “Restoring overtime working for drivers at TPE will in turn, if implemented and used in the same way as before, significantly accelerate training and reduce cancellations within days of the overtime deal being enacted, which is exactly what our customers need.”

Calls to nationalise the service have also been made by regional mayors and other MPs.

On Friday, Alison Hume, the Labour Party’s parliamentary candidate for Scarborough and Whitby said: “Thirteen years of Conservative failure has left our rail services in crisis.

“Transpennine Express has made commuters lives in Scarborough and beyond an absolute misery with cancellation rates the highest in the country.

“Once the contract expires next month the franchise should be taken over by the Department of Transport as happened with LNER on the East Coast Mainline.

“Rail privatisation doesn’t work and the experiment with our railways needs to end.”

At a meeting of the Scarborough and Whitby Area Constituency Committee last month, North Yorkshire Council officers said they have been in discussions with TPE about introducing a half hourly service between York and Scarborough.

While councillors welcomed the idea of more frequent trains, they also expressed doubts about the current operator’s ability to run such a service.