Footing the bill for rail delays

Scotrail has had to pay out an eye-watering £2.5 million in compensation to passengers for delayed or cancelled services in the three years since the SNP Scottish Government nationalised the company, says Sue Webber

Nationalisation was supposed to cure all ills, but it was obvious before they took control that it was just a costly gesture, not part of a clear strategy to deliver improvements. Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon promised a bright new dawn for our railways, but sadly the reality for passengers has been predictably very different.

And I think the figure is a lot lower than it should be, because Scotrail’s system for claiming compensation is too complicated and lots of affected passengers will just give up. A true measurement of inconvenience would be possible with the automatic system used by LNER, but maybe that’s too dangerous for them.

But one way or another, it’s taxpayers who will be left to pick up the bill and it looks very much like the tab is heading in the wrong direction at the same time as fares continue to rise, up 3.8 per cent as of this week. Meanwhile, SNP ministers are trying to get us to ditch our cars and use public transport, while failing to run reliable services. The ScotRail nationalisation is another example of the SNP’s ideological ineptitude, but it also means there is nowhere for ministers to hide. And the buck stops at Bute House.

Sue Webber is a Scottish Conservative MSP for Lothian