Lynne Featherstone

Reception held by Metronet and Tubelines, the two private consortia now running our tube infra structure. They made positive speeches about their effort and commitment and seemed so genuine. Such a shock and horror then when you see the statistics showing a deterioration in their performance since takeover.

They spent a good chunk of the reception saying that they didn’t recognise the figures published in the newspapers and that they were not accurate. Well – they would – wouldn’t they? That is one of the big problems on the tube – no accurate baseline. No accurate targets that are understandable. No measurable indicators for normal human beings.

Tim O’Toole (Transport for London’s Managing Director of London Underground) was there too. I nobbled him in a corner because my scrutiny officers had said that he didn’t want to come and give evidence to my committee ‘again’. I had hauled him into to answer questions following the tube derailment – rightly!

When cornered – he gracefully conceded that of course he wanted to come. He didn’t know where I got the idea from that he didn’t Of course, it would be better if he came after his report on performance came out in a few weeks. OK! A compromise is fine by me.