Scotland’s transport minister has been ridiculed after making the “incredible” claim that ScotRail is “not a poor service”.
Humza Yousaf argued it was necessary to put the recent fiasco on the railways into “perspective”, arguing that almost 90 out of 100 trains run on schedule.
But opposition politicians suggested his comments showed he was “out of touch with reality”.
Scottish Labour’s transport spokesman, Neil Bibby, added: “Weary passengers who are fed up of delayed, over-crowded and cancelled trains will be astounded by his incredible claim that they are not experiencing a ‘poor service’.
“It is little wonder that the travelling public is fast losing confidence in Mr Yousaf.”
Railway unions have called for the beleaguered – who will be updating MSPs on the situation today – to resign over the fiasco.
The Scottish Conservative’s Murdo Fraser likened Mr Yousaf’s performance to that of former Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson MSP, who resigned in 2010 after suggesting Scotland’s motorways were “first class”, despite drivers experiencing gridlock.
Mr Fraser said: “Mr Stevenson’s bumbling performance didn’t reassure anyone six years ago, and it isn’t likely that Mr Yousaf’s will either.”
Asked yesterday morning on the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland if “people will have to endure a poor service for some time to come, Mr Yousaf responded: “It’s not a poor service.
“Let’s just put this into perspective.
“89.8 – that’s almost 90 trains out of 100 – are running to their contractually obligated time. That’s not to say there aren’t problems and there aren’t issues, there are.”
A spokesman for the transport minister later added: “This is a pathetic, puerile attack from the opposition who have been reduced to ridiculous levels of selective quoting and personal attacks in order to try and score cheap political points.
“Mr Yousaf laid out the factual position that almost nine in ten trains are running to their contractually obligated time – and then quite clearly went on to state that there are problems and issues which need to be addressed.”