The boss of the Caledonian Sleeper train has quit a day after the Scottish transport secretary said faults with fleet will take another two months to fix.
Ryan Flaherty, who had been managing director of the London-to-Scotland sleeper service for almost two years, has said he will leave as soon as a successor had been appointed.
The decision to stand down came after Michael Matheson admitted the Spanish train manufacturer CAF was working through rectifying a range of numerous faults with the service since it was relaunched as a luxury “hotel on wheels”.
READ MORE: £100million Caledonian Sleeper fleet delayed again and will not be in service until next year
Serco Caledonian Sleeper launched its new £150 million fleet on the lowlander route between London and Glasgow/Edinburgh in April.
But it was beset with difficulties including delays botched reservations, broken air conditioning, food shortages and a fault that led to emergency exit windows being locked shut.
In October the independent regulator, the Office of Rail and Road revealed that the Caledonian Sleeper has the worst passenger complaint rate in the whole of the UK.
ORR data for the first quarter of this year revealed that the luxury sleeper service between London and Scotland received 206 complaints per every 100,000 journeys, up by 67% on the previous year.
Mr Flaherty left for "family reasons", operator Serco said.
He will move to the defence side of Caledonian Sleeper operators Serco's business in the south-west of England to be closer to his family.
John Whitehurst, Serco’s managing director for transport said: “Ryan has led Serco Caledonian Sleeper during a transformational period.
"Under his leadership, the business is well positioned for growth having successfully introduced a £150m fleet of new trains.
"We’re extremely pleased that he will remain with Serco in a new role, having taken the decision to return to the south of England for family reasons.
"The recruitment process for his successor as managing director of Serco Caledonian Sleeper will begin shortly, with Ryan remaining in post until there is a managed transition.”
Since 2015 the Caledonian Sleeper franchise has been run by Serco, whose chief executive is Rupert Soames — the grandson of Sir Winston Churchill.
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