Euston safety row

UK rail minister apologises for threatening messages over Euston safety concerns

Published on 07-11-2024 at 10:28

The UK rail minister has apologised for suggesting Network Rail may withhold contracts from a company employing an engineer who described Euston station as "unsafe". Lauren Hurley/ Alamy Limited/ANP

UK rail minister Peter Hendy has publicly apologised for threatening to withhold contracts from a Network Rail supplier whose engineer had raised safety concerns about overcrowding at Euston station in the British press.

Hendy told the annual Railway Industry Association (RIA) conference in London that the tone of his emails sent in his previous role as head of Network Rail “fell well short of what should be expected, and for that I apologise.”

In September, RailTech interviewed the engineer, Gareth Dennis, who was fired after Hendy demanded his dismissal for publicly raising issues about overcrowding at Euston – which are now being very publicly addressed by the UK Department for Transport (DfT). At the time, it was revealed that the minister, in his former role, wrote to one of the country’s largest engineering groups, Systra UK, threatening to withhold contracts from the consultancy firm if it failed to take action against the engineer over his comments.

“What action are you taking?”

Hendy wrote to Systra’s chief executive, Nick Salt, in May asking , “what action are you taking?” over Dennis. The letter warned: “Finding a potential supplier criticising a possible client reflects adversely on your likelihood of doing business with us or our supply chain.”

He also told Network Rail officials to “deal with” the engineer, and said the Systra CEO should be sent a “stop and desist” letter with a request for disciplinary action against Dennis.

After the letters went public, there was a strong backlash both from UK opposition politicians and the rail industry, with Hendy’s actions raising serious questions about the UK’s rail procurement process, and the safety culture the new rail minister presided over at Network Rail.

Gareth Dennis was suspended and sacked following his comments about Euston. Simon Walton/RailTech/ProMedia

UK rail minister’s “tone fell short”

Asked about the emails on Wednesday at the RIA event, Hendy said safety was “an absolute priority for Network Rail”, claiming the rail manager had acted quickly on concerns raised by the UK’s rail regulator, which were “closed down before the end of that year, months before the article.”

But, he added: “There was a sentence at the end [of the letter] where the tone of it fell well short of what should be expected, and for that I apologise.

“And what I would say is that no contractor has or will be penalised for employees raising concerns about safety.” He added: “The employment decisions about the person concerned are a matter for his employer.”

Settling the UK supply chain

The sentiment was slightly lost on Dennis, who was consequently suspended and eventually fired by Systra after Hendy’s intervention. “Hendy is only apologising for the tone of his letter – nothing on his subsequent threats by email – to calm the anger of a supply chain he was seemingly willing to threaten and cajole,” said Dennis in a statement following the speech. “He is not apologising for the harm he has caused me or the damage he has caused to the rail industry’s public reputation.

“For the rail industry to be confident that its safety culture doesn’t take second place to reputational culture, he needs to make an unequivocal apology for his letter and for having me removed from my job.”

Short of his resignation, only a full and frank apology can reverse some of that damage.

— Gareth Dennis (@GarethDennis) November 6, 2024

There has been some movement at Euston since the story broke. Last month, Network Rail announced a five-point plan to tackle overcrowding at the station, with the UK’s Minister for Transport wading into the row after the rail regulator again raised concerns about safety at the station. Dennis has repeatedly pointed out that both have made the exact same criticisms and suggestions for which he lost his job.

“Confidence and trust”

Hendy pledged to give greater certainty for the industry, as he said it needed to rebuild “confidence and trust”, focusing not so much on his own actions, but on how the last UK cabinet handled rail investment, including the “peremptory decision of the last government to abandon HS2 phase 2”.

“I can probably tell you more than most of you know about how quickly that was taken – and how few people knew what the decision-making process was,” he said. “There were, frankly, far more projects left by the previous government than the funding available.”

However, Dennis remains unconvinced by Hendy’s apparent push to rebuild confidence in the industry: “I still don’t have a job, because he had me sacked at a time when roles in rail engineering are few and far between, and because his act has made potential employers wary. Short of his resignation, only a full and frank apology can reverse some of that damage.”