{"id":791171,"date":"2016-01-07T13:37:27","date_gmt":"2016-01-07T13:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pressandjournal.co.uk\/?post_type=fp&p=791171"},"modified":"2016-01-07T13:37:27","modified_gmt":"2016-01-07T13:37:27","slug":"taxpayers-to-fund-strike","status":"publish","type":"fp","link":"https:\/\/www.pressandjournal.co.uk\/fp\/news\/inverness\/791171\/taxpayers-to-fund-strike\/","title":{"rendered":"Tax payers could be hit with six-figure Caledonian Sleeper strike bill"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Scottish taxpayers could be hit with a six-figure bill to cover the cost of a strike on the Caledonian Sleeper rail service.<\/p>\n

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union staged a 48-hour stoppage to highlight their concerns about various safety issues and brought the service to a halt.<\/p>\n

Pickets made their point at stations in Inverness, Fort William, Aberdeen and London Euston.<\/p>\n

The sleeper franchise was taken over by Serco from FirstGroup earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Under the terms of its contract, the company can submit a claim to the Scottish Government for losses incurred during industrial action.<\/p>\n

If it is deemed everything possible was done to avert industrial action, then compensation will be paid.<\/p>\n

In the case of the December walkout, it could cost about \u00a3100,000.<\/p>\n

A spokesman for Serco said: “We haven’t made any decision about what we’re going to do. Our focus has been trying to resolve the dispute and looking after the guests affected.<\/p>\n

“There are just over 1,000 passengers affected and the average fare is about \u00a3100.”<\/p>\n

A spokesman for Transport Scotland said: “Any decision regarding compensation would only be taken after full consultation with affected parties including workers’ representatives.”<\/p>\n

He added: “We are investing \u00a360million in the Caledonian Sleeper service to help drive up performance and improve service quality including capital expenditure on new sleeper trains.”<\/p>\n

The RMT has claimed the disruption was likely to cost more than \u00a3300,000, branding it “a taxpayer-funded bung”.<\/p>\n

Serco has clashed with the union over allegations about disconnected smoke detectors, faulty lighting and heating systems, the standard of air conditioning and a claimed lack of hot water in some coaches for hand washing.<\/p>\n

RMT general secretary, Mick Cash, said his members simply decided “enough was enough” and they had no option to act “before someone is injured”.<\/p>\n

Peter Strachan, managing director of Caledonian Sleeper, said he was extremely disappointed by the disruption – at one of the busiest times of the year.<\/p>\n

The union has alleged that the dispute was caused by “penny-pinching on maintenance by Serco, which has allowed a number of major defects to rolling stock to deteriorate to a level where it is unsafe”.<\/p>\n

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