Failed Tube firm 'allowed to print cash'

My Account
Logout

Create an Evening Standard Account

Use your social network

Save time by using your existing account to sign in to Evening Standard

We'll never share your information or post anything to your account without your permission

Welcome! Sign in here

Use your social network

Save time by using your existing account to sign in to Evening Standard

We'll never share your information or post anything to your account without your permission

Forgot your password ?

Registration

* indicates fields that are mandatory

Email *

Password *

Confirm Password *

First name *

Surname *

Postcode *

Country *

Mobile phone number

Username *

Gender *

Year of birth *

When you sign up...

You will have access to all our online competitions, discounted offers and can post comments on our site.

You will also receive The Weekender newsletter sent every Thursday - it’s full of fantastic offers and ideas for the weekend. You can update your email preferences in your account page when you log in.

Other newsletters and emails

Homes & Property Newsletter - Yes I want to receive the weekly email with all the latest news on property in the capital

Occasionally we would also like to send you relevant emails detailing specific offers either from ourselves or carefully selected partners. If you would prefer not to receive these then please tick the appropriate boxes below. We will never pass on your details.

I do not want to receive additional offers and information from the Evening Standard

I do not want to receive additional offers and information sent by Evening Standard on behalf of carefully selected partners

Terms and Conditions

* I have read, understood and agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of Evening Standard

Registration

Mail Sent for Registration Confirmation.

A confirmation email has been sent. Please activate your account by clicking on the activation link sent in your mail box.

A parliamentary hearing into Metronet's collapse heard that the taxpayer had to step in to repay debts of £1.7billion after the privately owned consortium went into administration two years ago.

Labour MP Don Touhig accused the Department for Transport of an "appalling" failure to keep tabs on the deal. "It would have been simpler to give these people the keys to the Royal Mint and they could have gone in and printed their own money," he said.

DfT permanent secretary Robert Devereux was called before the Commons public accounts committee to explain how Metronet was allowed to collapse. It was responsible for upgrading nine of the 12 Tube lines.

Tory committee chairman Edward Leigh said: "This is obviously a very serious matter. The taxpayer was left with a liability of £1.7billion."

Metronet had to be rescued by Transport for London, using Government finance, after it ran out of cash.

An announcement is due shortly from Mayor Boris Johnson and Transport Secretary Lord Adonis on what will happen to its work planed over the remaining 23 years of the £30billion PPP (Public Private Partnership) upgrade of the Tube.

A National Audit Office report this year found that Metronet's collapse in July 2007 cost the taxpayer between £170million and £410million.

However the company did manage to refurbish 39 stations, upgrade the Waterloo and City line and enable quicker journeys on the Central and Victoria lines.

Mr Devereux said the PPP deal - imposed on London by Gordon Brown as Chancellor - meant it was up to TfL and not his department to deal directly with Metronet.

He insisted that Metronet managed to spend £4.5billion "economically and efficiently" in its three-and-a-half years.

He said the cost to the taxpayer of the firm's collapse was closer to £110million, and refused to say whether any civil servants had been sacked as a result of the fiasco.

Mr Devereux said: "I don't think the PPP structure, per se, is the thing that is at fault."