21 Jan High Court Case over Rail Franchises decision.
BBC News have reported that yesterday Stagecoach are taking the Government to the High Court seeking tens of millions in compensation, after they were disqualified from bidding for the Three Rail Franchises in August 2019.
When the tender for the Three Rail Franchises was out last year Stagecoach along with its bidding partners, Virgin, SNCF and Arriva were disqualified from bidding due to a failure to comply with the Pension Liabilities.
The court case is set to last over 4 weeks and will see some of the highest earning civil servants from the Department of Transport be cross examined. The final judgement will be later on this year and is set to have far reaching implications to the rail systems, which could see compensation payments and a judicial review which could see the already active franchises being declared invalid.
The Department of Transport has total confidence in the franchise process and will be robustly defend their decisions.
SOURCES:
The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jan/19/rail-firms-sue-government-over-franchise-bids-stagecoach
