Avanti West Coast rewarded with £6.5m in bonuses

Avanti West Coast was awarded millions of pounds worth of taxpayers' money in performance bonuses last year, new figures show.

The train operator has been criticised by passengers over delays and poor service this year.

But the government handed the firm more than £6.5m in 2021 for "operational performance" and "customer experience".

The government said the performance fee was "based on data from before the current period of disruption".

But Labour has called the payments a "scandalous" waste of taxpayers' funds.

Details of the Department for Transport's (DfT) payments to passenger rail operators show that the bonuses related to Avanti's performance between April and September 2021.

It was rewarded for "operational performance, customer experience, financial performance and management fees".

However during some of that period, between July and September 2021, Avanti train services fell by 21.1% and its trains were punctual only 55.8% of the time.

It also received 9,000 complaints over the same period, the highest of any train operator.

Since then, Avanti has come under fire for slashing its timetables in August, with trains between London and Manchester the worst affected.

Services were cut from seven trains per hour to a minimum of four and ticket sales were suspended, blaming "severe staff shortages".

The company's contract had been due to expire on 16 October but the government has given it until 1 April to improve its performance.

The operator launched a new timetable this month with an increased number of trains.

Shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh accused ministers of rewarding "abject failure" and "handing over millions of pounds in performance bonuses and fees to this failing operator".

"Rather than hold operators to account for shambolic performance, ministers are doling out taxpayer-funded bonuses," she said.

The DfT said that the performance score was independently assessed and Avanti was being held to account for the operations and delivery that falls within its control.

"We have put Avanti on a short term, six month contract, as they roll out vital improvements and service upgrades and continue to monitor the situation closely," a statement said.

Avanti referred press queries about the payments to the Department for Transport.