Andy Burnham will ask the new Prime Minister to strip Avanti West Coast of their contract if they don't produce an acceptable plan to improve their service, the Mayor of Greater Manchester has said tonight.
The rail company last week announced that from Sunday it was cutting the number of trains between London Euston and Manchester from one every 20 minutes to one an hour “until further notice."
They are also only allowing tickets to be purchased a few days in advance.
The company said in a letter to the rail industry they had taken the action to "ensure a reliable service" as the "‘current industrial relations climate" has resulted in "severe staff shortages in some grades through increased sickness levels, as well as unofficial strike action by Aslef members."
The train drivers union rejected this, saying the rail operator had long been relying on train staff working on rest days to operate services.
The move has prompted anger amongst several regional leaders, with Mr Burnham and the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan among those to hit out at the move.
Yesterday (Wednesday ) Mr Burnham held a meeting with Avanti's senior management along with the region's Transport Commissioner Vernon Everitt and the Deputy Leader of Manchester City Council, Coun Luthfur Rahman.
He said they asked for a number of measures to be in place in the short term and for a timetable for the return to previous levels of service.
The firm say they will "fully consider" the requests and that they "remain committed to delivering the best possible services to the region."
However, in a statement issued following the talks, Mr Burnham said they "made clear to them in no uncertain terms our deep unhappiness at the way in which our city-region has been treated."
"The severe reduction of services at this time of year is seriously detrimental to our economy" he continued. "Avanti’s decision to take this action without any prior consultation or even notification shows a lack of respect for our city-region and its people.
"We have asked Avanti to produce a recovery plan that helps passengers in the short-term but which also commits to providing more trains per hour between Greater Manchester and London as quickly as possible."
Mr Burnham said he and his colleagues asked Avanti to consider declassifying trains -suspending first-class ticket sales to free up more affordable seats.
And he said they had "called for much clearer communications with customers about how and when to purchase tickets and for an end to the inflammatory language which is damaging workforce relations."
"More broadly, we asked them for a timetable to return to the previous levels of service as soon as possible and a commitment that we will not find ourselves in such a position again," he said.
"When we receive Avanti’s plan, we will consider whether it is acceptable for our residents and businesses and, if it isn’t, we made clear to the company that we will ask the new Prime Minister to strip them of this contract."
A spokesperson for Avanti West Coast said: "We welcomed the opportunity to meet with the Mayor of Greater Manchester and his senior leadership team to explain why we took this difficult decision to reduce our timetable.
"This is due to the current industrial relations climate which has resulted in severe staff shortages. As a result of this, customers have faced multiple short-notice cancellations.
"The reduced timetable was introduced to ensure a reliable service is delivered so our customers can travel with greater certainty. This decision was not taken lightly, and we are sorry for the enormous frustration and inconvenience this will cause.
“We value the Mayor’s feedback, and will fully consider these requests. We remain committed to delivering the best possible services to the region.
"We urge the rail unions to engage in meaningful industry reform discussions around modernising working practices and developing a railway fit for the 21st century and we look forward to further talks on this.”
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