1997-10-23 Rail Regulator announces further fines for train operators as calls go unanswered (Office of the Rail Regulator)

1997-09-16 Train operators fined for leaving too many telephone enquiries unanswered (Office of the Rail Regulator)

1997-08-15 Rail Regulator confirms enforcement action against National Rail Enquiry Service (Office of the Rail Regulator)

1997-07-10 Regulator moves towards enforcement action over National Rail Enquiry Service (Office of the Rail Regulator)

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date 12 November 1997
source Office of the Rail Regulator
type Press release

note ORR/97/33

For the first time since the Rail Regulator issued an enforcement order in August, the National Rail Enquiry Scheme (NRES) has met its call answering targets, with 92% of calls answered over the reporting period.

The Regulator, John Swift QC, said today, "I am pleased that operators have improved their performance to the extent that they have avoided fines this month. However, as I have said before, meeting this target is only the beginning. I will now want to discuss with the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) how they plan to make further improvements. I will also wish to address as a priority the quality of information given. In the meantime, the enforcement order will remain in place until I am satisfied that the target of 90% of all calls to be answered is being achieved on a sustained and consistent basis."



Notes to Editors

1. On 24 June (Press Notice ORR/97/14) the Regulator began to monitor performance weekly and warned that performance would have to improve dramatically if operators were to avoid enforcement action. On 11 July (Press Notice ORR/97/17) he published a proposed enforcement order, giving the statutory 28 days for representations to be made. This notice period expired on 8 August and on 14 August he issued a final order under section 55 of the Railways Act 1993 (Press Notice ORR/97/20). On 16 September (Press Notice ORR/97/22) the Regulator announced fines totalling £250,000 for the period 17 August to 14 September. On 23 October (Press Notice ORR/97/29) he announced fines totalling £100,000 for the period from 15 September to 12 October.

2. Today's announcement relates to the period from 13 October until 9 November. The next period runs from 10 November to 7 December.

3. Performance figures since April have been: April 51%; May 65%; June 55%; July 71%; August 82%; September 85%; October 88%; November 92%.

Railhub Archive ::: 1997-11-12 ORR-002