‘Free money!’ Avanti West Coast bosses caught joking about UK government handouts

Firm regrets comments made in internal presentation slides, including managers calling performance payments ‘too good to be true’

Avanti West Coast managers joked about receiving “free money” from government and performance-related payments being “too good to be true” in an internal presentation at the notoriously unreliable train operator, it has emerged.

One slide, entitled “Roll up, roll-up get your free money here!” described how the Treasury and Department for Transport supported the firm with taxpayers’ money, provided third-party suppliers and inspections, and then paid Avanti fees on top.