The delirium of rail privateers

Each of the privateers now making huge profits out of exploiting assets paid for by the taxpayer claims to have spent £10 million on preparing a bid for the Great Western franchise between south Wales and London and demands compensation.

These cowboys know that whoever wins it will have a guaranteed financial bonanza for shareholders, justifying this extravagant expenditure.

Each of them - FirstGroup, Stagecoach, Arriva and National Express - has already had its fair share of rides on the gravy train.

Yet their immediate response to government cancellation of the bidding process in consequence of the recent debacle over the West Coast mainline franchise shambles is to reach for m' learned friends.

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There is little doubt that legal process would have ensured that they got their beaks wet, which is why the government has opted for talks to secure an out-of-court settlement.

Ministers could have abided by the letter of the contract rules, refusing to refund these corporate bloodsuckers, but their decision to bail out bidders who lost out on the West Coast bunfight could have been taken as precedent.

Neither ministers nor companies question the madness of devoting tens of millions of pounds to this franchising merry-go-round.

Why should they worry? The poor taxpayers and passengers will pick up the bill.

Every assertion by privatising Tory prime minister John Major about rail privatisation has proved untrue, from not selling assets below their value to lower fares and "broadly similar" state subsidies.

British Rail assets were sold for a song, rail fares have doubled and the taxpayer's annual handout to the industry has quadrupled.

Never mind compensation for the train operating companies. Isn't it time the people of Britain were recompensed for the theft of their property?

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Wrong priorities

Regulator Postcomm makes a habit of threatening or imposing fines on Royal Mail for not achieving an acceptable level of service.

Perhaps the regulator should consider a shot across the bows of the Post Office for its failure to deliver a pay rise to Crown office staff that should have arrived last April.

Other Post Office staff received an increase last year and are anticipating one this year. Why should people working in Crown offices be singled out for shabby treatment?

It's not just a matter of living standards being lowered as the result of an unacknowledged pay freeze.

Crown office workers also face job insecurity in light of last month's announcement that the Post Office, which has already slashed the number of Crown offices, is intent on whittling away another 70.

The board made this statement without consulting the Communication Workers Union, which represents the staff.

Crown offices by their nature are in the centre of towns and centres, which is what encourages management to close them down and franchise their services.

Post Office bosses are casting greedy eyes on the income to be generated by selling off prime sites in central urban areas without a care about the effect on workers' lives.

No wonder CWU members have voted so overwhelmingly on a high turnout for strike action to be treated like human beings rather than as ciphers on a balance sheet.