Grand Central - Free First Class Pass for MPs

[DarloRich]

Well apart from media publicity , which is effectively free advertising for the firm, I hope government favours are not involved.

there are not many government minsters who have constituancies served by GC. Only really William Hauge is of the first rank ( did i just say that?) so i doubt there is much pressure they can exert there. However it is always useful to have "tame" MP's on side

 

[WestCoast]

However it is always useful to have "tame" MP's on side

Who can then perhaps "promote" the service to their constituents?

Although, I see your point about having them on side (and not taking sides with EC or whoever else!).

 

[YorkshireRider]

Doubt they will be many MPs on the Bradford route, surely they wouldnt have time to take half a day out of their diary just to get to London

 

[DarloRich]

Doubt they will be many MPs on the Bradford route, surely they wouldnt have time to take half a day out of their diary just to get to London

They will go down the night before and stay over. I doubt they spend more than weekends and one day a week in thier constituancies anyway.

I think it is good publicity for GC. They could even trumpet it by saying they are saving US money ( we are all in it together i am told)

Plus always good to have some support. 45 Mps who are aware of GC , thier services and the open access nature of thier company can only be a good thing for GC

 

[tbtc]

I think it is good publicity for GC. They could even trumpet it by saying they are saving US money ( we are all in it together i am told)

I thought "we are all in it together" referred to the "close" relationship between the Government, News International and the Metropolitan Police?

 

[YorkshireBear]

I thought "we are all in it together" referred to the "close" relationship between the Government, News International and the Metropolitan Police?

oooooooooooo

End of day grand central are a private company they can do what they like, no problem as far as im concerned.

If M&S gave gordon brown a free chicken i dont think id care.

 

[DarloRich]

I thought "we are all in it together" referred to the "close" relationship between the Government, News International and the Metropolitan Police?

no - i think you are mistaking the "entirely different nature" of the relationships between News International and the Metropolitan Police and News International and the Government.

A difference in relationship that means if you hire the former deputy editor of the NOTW you have to resign but if you hire the former editor everything is ok because he was a decent chap when he worked in government!

Back on topic i wonder if other TOCs are missing a trick here. What if GC corner the market in MP's? They might take over the whole ECML franchise!

Could anyone else benefit by offering MP's free travel i wonder

 

[Darandio]

Could anyone else benefit by offering MP's free travel i wonder

It would certainly stir up more debate than this thread is doing, provided the travel was offered by a franchisee. It would then be a case of people looking at subsidies given to the franchise, adding two and two together and claiming that we are paying for the MP's free travel.

 

[jon0844]

GC must be aware that if they are to bid for a franchise in the future, the accusation of bribery and corruption could come back to haunt them.

Now, given they've been totally open about it, it shouldn't - but we all know it will and I hope they do too.

Let's hope they're not bought out by a German company!

 

[DarloRich]

It would certainly stir up more debate than this thread is doing, provided the travel was offered by a franchisee. It would then be a case of people looking at subsidies given to the franchise, adding two and two together and claiming that we are paying for the MP's free travel.

but we pay for it already!

 

[wensley]

The information has been in the public domain for a period of time so it must have been a slow day when the journalists managed to dig out such a pointless story.

It is up to GC how they choose to behave and as has been pointed out by some media channels this is saving the taxpayer a significant amount of money each year.

 

[KingBBoogaloo]

What exactly do you mean by 'tricks'?

As in the PR meaning, using freebies to keep the powers at be happy and on-side.

In this case giving free travel to MPs but another example would be giving a journalist a free ticket or giving an MD of a company free travel knowing that any entourage would have to pay.

The latter is the really cleaver one, you get the 'goodwill' from the giving of free travel but you also get an extra fare from the one that has to pay.

 

[Turbocharger]

JUst been on the late bulletin. The reporter said that it could be a problem because Grand Central might bid for East Coast when it is re-let.....

Talk about making things up! Surely they won't? Or are they big enough to do so now?!

They may well bid, but I very much doubt they would come anywhere near winning it.

And would the MP's be allowed to partake of the complimentary food and drinks or would they have to purchase an upgrade for it if GC continued with the comp drinks and food on the ECML service? Knowing how much MP's love their food and drink....... Allegedly!

 

[alanf]

i would be happy to contribute to a one way ticket to the moon for any of our MPs. Most of them are from another planet anyway

Alan