Anger at profits of Southern's owners
Go-Ahead Group has reported annual profits of almost £100m.
Passengers on Southern, which is one of three franchises serving Portsmouth, have suffered months of delays and cancellations because of a dispute over changes to the role of conductors and staff shortages – blamed by the company on high levels of employee sickness.
A number of politicians expressed their anger at the profits, with London mayor Sadiq Khan claiming commuters will be ‘shocked’.
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Hide AdGo-Ahead, which owns 65 per cent of Southern operator Govia Thameslink Railway, saw full-year profits soar 27 per cent to £99.8m while revenues rose 4.5 per cent to £3.4bn.
Chuka Umunna, Labour MP for Streatham, which is on the Southern network, claimed it was ‘utterly outrageous’ that Go-Ahead ‘makes millions out of providing totally shoddy services’.