As ticket prices rise the RMT releases how much money is being paid out and it's huge! So things are unlikely to change under this Tory government. It's not green, it's making travel unaffordable and it's draining money from the country tax free. Any Tories want to tell me how good it is?
As fares rise on our railways yet again today, rail union RMT has revealed that private companies have siphoned off £4.4 billion in dividends to shareholders in the last ten years.
The union analysed the company accounts of every train operating company that had held a franchise since 2010 together with those of the three rolling stock companies (Roscos).
The figures, published in ‘Counting the Costs of Privatisation’, revealed that the Train Operating Companies (TOCs) have paid out a total £2.05 billion in dividends to their shareholders since 2010, while the Roscos, who make their money from leasing trains to the TOCs paid out £2.39 billion to their shareholders, often based in low tax jurisdictions like Luxemburg.
Every year, on average, these companies channel £483 million out of the industry to their shareholders, a sum that equates to 5% of passenger fare revenue in 2017/18. That means that over the next five years of Tory government, we can expect that the network will see a further £2.4 billion disappear into shareholders’ pockets.
If you want to read more www.rmt.org.uk/news/rmt-reveals-full-extent-of-shareholders-bonanza/?fbclid=IwAR1LWanJ9Ao7csCmbvV7xzv-5-1GTc0S-kDFzik__HDCWtwe_3lJVjG0HKU
