Grimsby and Cleethorpes MPs want action on rail cancellations
They say the cancellations on Transpennine Express are "unacceptable"
The MPs for Grimsby and Cleethorpes have to written to the Transport Secretary calling for him to take action against Transpennine Express after large number of cancelled services.
Martin Vickers and Lia Nici say the company has often cancelled trains on the Manchester to Cleethorpes route.
They want a meeting with the new transport Secretary Mark Harper.
Mr Vickers said: "“I have raised this with ministers on many occasions and held frequent meetings with senior management from the company.
In July during I House of Commons debate I called on the Department of Transport to consider removing their franchise.
Today I raised the matter with the Leader of the House of Commons:”
“I have today, along with my Grimsby colleague Lia Nici written to the new Transport Secretary appraising him of the situation and seeking a meeting to try and bring this appalling state of affairs to a head.” (copy of letter attached).
Here's the exchange in the Commons:
Martin Vickers
(Cleethorpes) (Con)
The principal rail service into my Cleethorpes constituency is provided—or at the moment not provided—by TransPennine Express. It is supposed to run an hourly service between Cleethorpes and Manchester.
When I checked its website this morning, there were five consecutive cancellations, which means at least six hours between trains.
I have had frequent meetings with members of the management over the last 11 months of various disputes, but to no avail.
They tell me that they need approval from the Department for Transport to conclude negotiations.
Could the Leader of the House arrange for a statement from the new Transport Secretary so that we can try to resolve the issue?
Penny Mordaunt, Leader of the House
I thank my hon. Friend for raising that. I will raise it straightaway with the Department for Transport.
It is absolutely vital. We know that there are occasional disruptions to services, but to have so many will have caused my hon.
Friend’s constituents a huge amount of difficulty. I thank him for raising the issue, and shall help him to get it resolved with the Department for Transport.
Transpennine Express have responded:
"“Prior to December 2021 TransPennine Express (TPE) had posted its best ever performance results, and was subsequently recognised as “Train Operator of the Year” at the Rail Business Awards.
“Since then, prolonged disruption affecting our services has been caused by a range of issues including ongoing high levels of train crew sickness, a persisting training backlog as a direct result of Covid, and infrastructure issues outside of TPE’s control.
Combined, these factors have seen a number of on-the-day or ‘evening before’ cancellations being made.
“In normal circumstances, we have enough people to fully operate our scheduled timetable – and have more drivers now than ever before – however the combination of factors has put unprecedented pressure on our ability to effectively operate our services.
“Our customers want, and deserve, reliable and punctual train services, and we are sorry have not been able to consistently provide that due to the ongoing issues.
TPE’s team continues to work flat-out to deliver higher levels of service delivery and to tackle the issues that are being experienced by customers.”