Forum Topic

Simple question for Sam Hearn.

Hi Sam, I've got a simple question for you regarding something you wrote in your piece 'Considering Staveley Road Traffic Measures from Staveley in Cumbria' that's on the front page.You wrote 'Now that TfL is bankrupt it is government funding ...'Is this factually correct? A simple yes or no answer to this question would be appreciated, so there can no suggestion of any accompanying 'spin'. For what it's worth, I thought that TfL avoided declaring itself bankrupt after reaching an emergency bail out arrangement with the government, so I believe that what you wrote above is factually incorrect.

Andrew Jones ● 2303d10 Comments

Come back in October

Julian Pavey ● 2303d

Hopefully Sam will answer before then!

Andrew Jones ● 2303d

Andrew you have lost me if TFL needed emergency government  funding to stop bankruptcy then the government or should I say the taxpayer is funding them???????

Jayne Thorburn ● 2302d

Who did you think was funding them anyway?

Philippa Bond ● 2302d

“Now, the UK government says it will make available 1.6 billion GBP available to TfL so that services can keep running. Not being able to operate with the usual passenger numbers, TfL still provides an essential service where social distancing rules must be adhered to. The government says the 1.6 billion GBP is made up of a mix of grants and loans that come with a number of strings. Specifically, 1.095 billion GBP will be a grant, while 505 million GBP will be a loan. This deal runs until October 2020.“

Steve Taylor ● 2302d

Jayne,The question I asked Sam was a simple one.You wrote 'Now that TfL is bankrupt it is government funding ...'Is this factually correct?

Andrew Jones ● 2302d

Just to make it clear, I was cutting and pasting in my previous post ... the 'you' in 'you wrote' refers to Sam.I have no doubt that TfL would have declared Bankruptcy if the emergency bail out hadn't been forthcoming, but I can't see how I would have lost you with the simple and unambiguous question that I posed to Sam.

Andrew Jones ● 2302d

I believe most would accept it as factual that TfL has been bunkrupt for quite a while and it was only a matter of time before declaring it as such. Covid-19 expedited matters and forced the government to step in an assist in alleviating the pain caused by the mess the Mayor of London was incapable of managing.If the government hadn't stepped in, many creditors would have little hope of being paid. I have little sympathy because many would have seen the badly run TfL as an open cheque book to cash in on whilst the money tree was still harvesting.

Steve Taylor ● 2301d

Hi Steve, TfL may indeed have been heading towards bankruptcy (though that is probably debatable) however it’s the loss of revenue as a consequence of the COVID pandemic that undoubtedly reduced it’s income to a point where bankruptcy would be inevitable without external intervention.But that isn’t what Sam said - Sam wrote ‘Now TfL is bankrupt ...’ - as far as I can see it isn’t bankrupt, because government intervention saved it from becoming bankrupt.

Andrew Jones ● 2301d

Ok - I take your point. Let's see if Sam responds.

Steve Taylor ● 2301d