£170,000 seats bill for ScotRail

Wednesday 12 September 2012

PASSENGERS damaging seats by sticking chewing gum on them or putting their feet up cost ScotRail £170,000 in penalties last year.

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Fiona McKay

The train operator has revealed poor quality seating was responsible for more than half of all the fines it had to pay out under the Scottish Government's carriage monitoring scheme.

It is now launching a campaign along with the charity Keep Scotland Beautiful aimed at encouraging people to show respect for other passengers and property.

ScotRail said it had to fix more than 350 seats in the past month alone, which included nearly 100 damaged by discarded gum.The penalties were directly attributed to what Transport Scotland's Service Quality Incentive Regime (Squire) described as "seat failures".Squire penalties for the 12 months up to June 2012 totalled £372, 849, which was down 16.5% from the previous year. However, seat penalties cost £173,450 in the same period, which was a rise of 160% from the £66,960 recorded in the year before.The campaign will include promotional events at five ScotRail stations, and posters and announcements on trains.They will feature Neat Seats information stands – with giveaways including "gum bins" – at stations including Glasgow Central, Glasgow High Street, Kilwinning and Partick stations throughout September.Steve Montgomery, ScotRail's managing director, said: "Our overall performance under the regime has improved in recent years, but unfortunately the amount of damage caused to train seats is growing."Everyone deserves a clean seat, and this campaign aims to make our trains an even more pleasant and comfortable way to travel."The move has been backed by leading environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful – which has concentrated on litter, waste and campaigning for a clean and tidy country for more than 40 years.Derek Robertson, chief executive of Keep Scotland Beautiful, said: "We are delighted to support all ScotRail campaigns which encourage people to show respect for their environment. "The Neat Seats campaign is tackling the issue of dirty and damaged seats head on."ScotRail's focus on cleanliness on trains has already made an impact in other areas, but more importantly, this campaign will raise public awareness of the growing problems caused by passengers' feet on seats."He added: "This campaign is a key component in changing the behaviour of a minority of railway users who show a lack of consideration for their fellow passengers."In the latest National Passenger Survey, ScotRail scored 84% for on-train cleanliness and 80% for the comfort of seating areas – respectively 10 and eight percentage points ahead of the UK national average for train operating companies.

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£170,000 seats bill for ScotRail

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