Avanti West Coast expected to part ways with boss after timetable failures

theguardian.com:

One of Britain’s major intercity train operators, Avanti West Coast, is expected to part company with its boss a month after the company admitted it was unable to run its timetabled services.

Avanti, a joint venture between First Group and Trenitalia, slashed its schedules last month, leaving only one train an hour instead of three running between London and Manchester. The move was billed by Avanti as a way of running a more predictable service after widespread delays and cancellations but provoked fury, with the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, calling for it to be stripped of its contract.

It is understood the owning groups are looking at a range of options and that Avanti’s managing director, Phil Whittingham, is likely to be among those moved on. Whittingham inflamed industrial relations at the firm by blaming the problems on “unofficial strike action” by drivers – a claim denounced as an outright lie by the union, Aslef. Other senior operational staff are also understood to be in the line of fire.

Avanti said it did “not comment on individual staff”. Whittingham did not respond to requests for comment.

The action comes after increasing public anger at the service, with Avanti garnering more complaints than any other firm in the past two years, even before the recent decline. Labour has demanded that Avanti be stripped of its contract.

The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, had endorsed Whittingham’s view that unofficial strike action – the refusal of drivers to volunteer for additional shifts – was to blame for the poor service. Avanti employs several hundred drivers but relies on them to work overtime to run the full schedules.

The firm took over the west coast mainline operation from Virgin Trains in December