UK rail chiefs admit ‘We weren’t ready for the big freeze’

[John Ashworth]

Thursday, Feb 17 2011 12PM

Outrage after rail chiefs admit ‘We weren’t ready for the big freeze’

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 8:05 AM on 16th February 2011

Railway executives have admitted they were to blame for the travel chaos during Britain’s recent Arctic weather conditions.

Millions of people were affected by delays and cancelled services during the snowy conditions and chiefs have no admitted they were not prepared for the bad weather.

The admission has been criticised by consumer groups who say the train companies should have done more to alert passengers to service problems.

Speaking at a Transport Select Committee hearing, Network Rail’s operations and customer services director Robin Gisby said the firm had ‘got into a pickle’ during the so-called Big Freeze.

He told MPs it was a ‘mistake’ to attempt to run a full rail timetable during poor weather in early December, rather than laying on temporary services.

And according to the Daily Express, Mr Gisby also admitted the railways were ‘not quite ready’ for the heavy snowfall last year, even though severe weather had been forecast weeks earlier.

We made a number of mistakes in the first week. We learnt from this quite rapidly..' he added.

The hearing also learned passengers were sold tickets for already cancelled services during the worst of the travel chaos.

National Rail Enquiries chief executive Chris Scoggins said passengers were warned timetables were subject to change but confirmed ‘it was possible that you could buy tickets for trains that were not going to run’.

‘We need to carry on working with Network Rail to ensure changes to timetables can be passed through to passengers more quickly,’ he added.

The rail chiefs’ admissions of their poor service during the snow storms has been slammed by the Passenger Focus watchdog.

Director Ashwin Kumar said: ‘The industry’s acceptance that they made mistakes will bring little comfort to passengers stuck on a cold platform.

‘When bad weather means services are likely to be altered, a passenger should be able to go to bed knowing what will be running the next day.

‘It cannot be right that train companies are taking money for services that they knew wouldn’t be running.’