Virgin Trains has commenced court proceedings against the Department for Transport over its decision to award West Coast mainline to FirstGroup.
The company said it was left with no choice after three weeks of trying to gain clarity from the DfT with little answer.
“We are left with no choice but to commence Court proceedings as we believe the procurement process has ignored the substantial risks to taxpayers and customers of delivering FirstGroup’s bid over the course of the franchise,” it said in a statement. “The current process is geared to selecting the highest risk bid and needs to be independently audited to prevent a repeat of former franchise failures.”
An e-petition against the FirstGroup contract has been signed by more than 150,000 people.