Avanti West Coast under fire after bosses caught joking about government handouts

Managers joked about receiving “free money” from government and performance-related payments being “too good to be true” in an internal presentation.

Avanti West Coast has been slapped with criticism - after bosses were caught joking about UK government handouts. Managers joked about receiving “free money” from government and performance-related payments being “too good to be true” in an internal presentation.

One slide, entitled “Roll up, roll-up get your free money here!” described how the Treasury and Department for Transport supported the firm. The presentation added: “And here’s the fantastic thing! – if we achieve those figures, they pay us some more money – which is ours to keep – in the form of a performance-based fee!!

"Sound too good to be true?! Well on this occasion it isn’t – it’s the absolute truth!” An Avanti West Coast spokesperson said: “This does not represent Avanti West Coast’s view of the Service Quality Regime and was an isolated incident. These slides were an attempt to explain how the SQR works to some of our colleagues, but the language used in this was regrettable and we apologise.

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“The Service Quality Regime is a robust and independent audit which we take very seriously. It has been demonstrated to hold us to account to drive up standards as we strive to continually improve our customer service.” The RMT general secretary, Mick Lynch, said: “Avanti is one of the worst rail companies in terms of performance and how it treats rail staff.

"For senior management to produce a PowerPoint slide bragging about the government paying them public money is a disgrace. The government has the mandate over Avanti and should never have given them a long-term nine-year contract award. The fact the company feels emboldened to boast that they get ‘free money’ is down to the ridiculous system of rail ownership in this country.

"Ultimately, profit-driven companies who receive huge public subsidies have failed to deliver for railway workers and passengers alike.”