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Not for the first time, helpfully thick, the Scottish Conservative’s Graham Simpson announces gleefully, after another freedom of information request we all paid for:
ScotRail has paid out a staggering £1.5 million in compensation for cancelled and delayed trains since the SNP took over the rail service. Taxpayers are footing an enormous bill as a result of the SNP overpromising and underdelivering.
https://twitter.com/ScotTories/status/1767528542101799226
In the Insider, Simpson, describes this as ‘absolutely staggering.’ Remember those words.
So, all things being equal with ten times the population, that would be like the eighteen privatised railways in England paying out £15 million?
Gee, makes you wonder what the actual figure was.
Well, according to official figures from the UK Department of Transport, for 2022/23, it was…
wait for it……
£101 million!
”””nearly seven times as much pro rata as in Scotland.
Scottish Cons IQ results – ‘absolutely staggering‘ that they can get home on a train or buy food, without help?
Talking-up Scotland costs nothing so donate to our friends at https://www.broadcastingscotland.scot/donate/ or take out a subscription to the Scots Independent newspaper in which I have a column, at: https://scotsindependent.scot/FWShop/product-category/subscriptions/
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Graham’s years at News Corporation certainly show, he still believes trigger words like “FOI” translate in the public mind as ‘ they’ve been deliberately hiding this from you ‘… 🙄
With Scotrail running over 2,300 rail services a day, that’s over 7 million a year with over 100 million passenger journeys, as an operation, that’s what is ” staggering “.
Passengers for sure are inconvenienced when something goes wrong, but is Graham really suggesting compensation for “cancelled and delayed trains” is inappropriate, or their frequency are unique to Scotrail because of who “owns” the service ?
Graham like many in opposition, still hold to a belief this faux politicking impresses the public, despite ample evidence it has no more effect than slapping the word EXCLUSIVE on a piece of nonsense in the Sun… Graham should know it didn’t do much to save the Sun, which biggest circulation was among budgie owners….
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I read not that long ago that 60% of all Scotrail delays/cancellations are due Network rail. Question is then, if true are the Scottish government paying out compensation for delays/cancellations caused by an organisation owned by the uk gov and are the SG able to claim these monies back from Network rail?
Golfnut
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No idea but I’d presume there was some financial mechanism to compensate.
I think by far the saddest aspect of Simpson’s faux indignation is attempting to attach blame to SNP because SG are the effective owners of Scotrail – I’d been looking at one stage of ‘ferry stories’ into who owned ferries pre-devolution Scotland – The Secretary of State for Scotland.
Some perspective to Graham’s 1.5 million harrumph… SG’s annual budget for Scotrail is near 2,500 million…. 0.06 % 🙄
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Yes, Scotrail is nationalised, ergo in Mr Simson’s view, it is by definition A BAD THING and it is INEFFICIENCY that has resulted in the (relatively small amount paid in compensation).
Rail services in England are PRIVATISED and, by definition, they MUST BE EFFICIENT. It stands to reason, doesn’t it? If they weren’t they would go bust and someone else would have to take them over. This the RIGOUR that competition brings. The fact that they pay compensation is due to the harsh self discipline that competition forces on private companies.
The above paragraph is total fantasy, but the Tory media continually tell it.
My daughter and her partner live in London and several times per year they take the train to Scotland. On almost every occasion the delays are such that they are entitled to compensation, often a full refund. I am sure that the Tory media will spin this into a Union Benefit, providing free or very cheap transport between London and Scotland. Bodger Broon will use it as an example of ‘pooling and sharing’.
Alasdair Macdonald.
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Is he, Graham Simpson, in the same political party that accepts donations from those who make racists comments about an MP from an opposition party….as in the same party whose HQ leader waited hours before acknowledging this news and admitting it was a “Racist” comment but then he as in Simpson’s HQ leader, Sunak, brushed it aside in stating that the “racist” had apologised and thus we, the public and media, should now just “move on”…..which as an action is something neither he as Tory HQ leader nor his Tory colleagues, especially branch office ones, are ever willing or able to do when tis anything considered #BAD connected to the SNP (and other political parties too)……..
And if we are talking TRAINS….then what about the HS2…..(well) over budget and (well) over schedule for completion…..Simpson needs to understand some of us, as in the public, are paying attention to the waste of money and incompetence we witness via his HQ party…..and their total mismanagement of government initiatives generated via them as a UK Govt.
I guess desperation, when one’s party is tanking in the polls, means one must then grasp at any straw.(even the thinnest ones)…to try and con the voters……I guess if your party is going down the LavaTORY (in more ways than one) then one must resort to….yet again…becoming a Tory sub division Deflection Commando……
NMRN
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The Tories spending £Billions on HS2 in the south. A total waste of revenues. Corruption, non scrutinised contracts with no business case. Borrowed monies paying vast repayments of debt, for the Chinese. Cameron. The Tory slush funds all Tory hands in it. In loans and consultancy fees. Total corruption. The Civil service responsible in the cover up. Under the Official Secrets Act. To hide the vast unnecessary and unsustained expense. A waste of £Billions and a worse service for the majority of travellers.
Monies that could have been spent in Scotland and the North where journey times take twice as long, pro rata, as rail journeys in the South. (Same distance). In order to cut rail journey times throughout Britain. Historical unfunded and under investment in the North. There were even EU funding and investment to help. Brexit costing £Billions. Another Tory fail.
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