Labour lashes out at Stagecoach "dinosaur" and declares bus market "broken"

Labour today widened its attack on private sector operators, with the shadow transport secretary savaging Martin Griffiths, Stagecoach chief executive, and other "bus barons" for taking "massive bonuses while cuttng crucial routes".

Michael Dugher MP said that under David Cameron, over 1,300 bus routes have been cut and fares have risen by 25% whilst Griffiths complains he is "underpaid" for earning £2.2m including a £600,000 bonus. He attacked Stagecoach for "holding the travelling public to ransom by threatening to take their buses off the roads in the North East".

Dugher said that "like the energy sector, the bus market is broken" and Griffiths' attitude "calls into question the Government's decision to privatise the East Coast mainline, won by Stagecoach and Virgin. "Griffiths is a dinosaur and the best advert possible for Labour's plans to give communities power over their local bus services and to ensure we can have a public sector operator for our railways."

He was commenting on Griffiths' statement in The Guardian over Labour's "crazy ideas".