Lord Adonis is indeed a wag.
The Secretary of State is racing round the country, escorted by Captain Deltic no less, to highlight the 10 worst stations on the network - as identified by Messrs Hall & Green, official Stationers to Lord DafT Vader.
To celebrate this mini Pilgrimage of Grice the DafT website has some words, apparently crafted by the Noble Lord himself:
And yes, I am travelling around on another national Rover ticket to minimise the cost. I confess that this time it is First Class – at a cost of £650 for seven days – because it also had to get me to and from York on Saturday for the first day of the new nationalised East Coast service and it also needs to get me to and from the regional Cabinet meeting in Nottingham on Friday (with official papers intact.)
So not as good value as my last Standard Class Rover (then £375) – but not bad for a week of unlimited First Class travel across the rail network.
Last time I publicised these Rover tickets, the train companies put up the price immediately, so buy yours now to avoid disappointment.
Nice, with an appropriate dig at ATOC.
Speaking of which do we know whether ATOC's "1.1% average increase in rail fares" includes a further hike in the price of the All Line Rover?
UPDATE: This from Scotch Corner...
Interesting the number of Virgin West Coast stations in the top ten worst list (Crewe, Stockport, Preston, Wigan North Western & Warrington Bank Quay).
Especially as we could all mention worse ones.
But who authored the report?
Step forward Chris Green, former Chief Executive of errr... Virgin Trains!
UPDATE: The report by the Stationers to Lord DafT Vader can be downloaded here.
And the Government's response here.
UPDATE: This from Globetrotter..
I note that media reports about the worst stations emphasise the fact that none are in Scotland, where steps had apparently been taken to invest in station modernisation over many years.
Those of us with long memories may remember who started the ball rolling by installing Terazzo flooring at Inverness some 25 years ago ... a certain C**** G**** if I recall correctly...
Eye suspects that the silence on the state of Jockanese stations has more to do with transport North of the border being devolved to the Scottish Executive.
UPDATE: This from @swlines via Twitter...
RE: Price increases to the All Line Rover:
ATOC supposedly not releasing NFM 05 data until 30th Nov on FRPP/The Manual so we'll find out then!
