Anger at profits of Southern's owners

POLITICIANS have told of their angeryat the large profits made by the joint operator of the troubled Southern rail franchise.

By The Newsroom

Published 2nd Sep 2016, 16:37 BST

Updated 2nd Sep 2016, 17:41 BST

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’.

Go-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’.