£17m paid to Avanti West Coast is ‘reward for failure’, says Labour

Under-fire firm given performance and management fees despite being worst-performing rail operator

The under-fire rail operator Avanti West Coast has been rewarded for failure", Labour said, after the company was paid more than 17m in taxpayers' money by ministers for performance and management fees in just two years, despite being the worst-performing operator on the rail network.

The figures from 2019-20 and 2020-21 include almost 4m in bonuses to Avanti for operational performance", customer experience" and acting as a good and efficient operator".