Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 17 November 2016 to Question 52776, and with reference to the letter of the same date from the Under-Secretary of State for Transport to the Chair of the Transport Committee, what the reasons are for the difference on whether Govia Thameslink Railway is able or not able to separate claims for force majeure from official and alleged unofficial action.

Govia Thameslink Railway’s (GTR) claim for force majeure relates to official and unofficial action by Southern train crew. This includes unofficial action for all days throughout the claim period. On days where there has been a notified strike, GTR’s claim also includes a claim for official action. Due to the unprecedented scale of disruption, the rail industry systems that capture disruption data are unable to differentiate between the two. Any such difference is likely to be immaterial to the passenger affected by this damaging and unwarranted action.