On Wed, 23 Feb 2005 17:06:38 +0000, Paul Terry wrote:

In message , Dave Arquati
writes

Shame. If public bodies believe they can provide a better value
service, then why shouldn't they bid... the government wanted
competition, I call that competition!

The trouble is, if it all goes horribly wrong, there are no shareholders
to demand resignations, no risk of bankruptcy, administration or
liquidation - the public body just extracts more money from the public
and carries on as usual.

And how is this different from a 'private' operator who finds their
shareholders are not happy and then manages to extract more money out of
the government. ?
As well, most of the staff on the ground know the service has to run no
matter what state the 'company' is and and rest easy knowing they will
have a job even when the company goes under and walks out, as the trains
have to still run.