DfT’s reputation damaged by a calamitous West Coast story

The findings of Sam Laidlaw’s review into the aborted West Coast rail franchise competition are hugely embarrassing for the DfT, revealing basic errors of process and poor management. Yet perhaps the most damaging finding of all is that some officials hid concerns about the process from senior management and ministers

Andrew Forster

21 December 2012

Having cancelled the award to FirstGroup, the DfT has granted Virgin a two-year extension for West Coast

Rail minister Theresa Villiers approved the contract award to FirstGroup but was not told how the subordinated loan facility had been calculated

Are you sitting comfortably? Then let us begin. This is a story about how the Department for Transport spectacularly mishandled the competition for the Inter City West Coast railway franchise, through a mixture of cock-up, confusion and – perhaps worst of all – a failure by some middle-ranking officials to report concerns about the process to higher management or ministers. Once transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin became aware of the mistakes he had no choice but to cancel the...