“Most of our competitors only pay for care services to a specified amount of money. In our case, we say how much we are paying and pay it in cash. If the cost ends up more, then the consumer will have to pay for it out of their own pocket.”Mr Whittaker argues that the uncertainty over whether care fees will ultimately be subject to VAT is a good additional reason to take out insurance protection.”If this [VAT tribunal] ruling stands, in the long-term costs for people paying for care privately will go up dramatically. “Insurance is a possible way forward,” concludes Mr Whittaker.. Train companies have been fined a record £100m for delays and cancellations, with long- suffering passengers complaining in their thousands over unreliable services. Company complaint levels
Number of complaints per 100,000 passenger journeys for year ending March 2001. Previous year’s figures in brackets.Anglia 549 (476)Arriva Merseyside 35 (42)Arriva Northern 541 (245)c2c 53 (53)Cardiff Railway 20 (23)Central Trains 178 (99)Chiltern Railways 69 (30)Connex South Central 36 (20)Connex South Eastern 36 (19)CrossCountry 2,172 (1,176)Gatwick Express 36 (24)Great Eastern 94 (86)GNER 930 (490)Great Western 391 (514)Island Line 20 (15)Midland Mainline 360 (197)North Western Trains 97 (69)ScotRail 61 (42)Silverlink 77 (52)South West Trains 35 (34)Thames Trains 207 (170)Thameslink 40 (33)Wales & West 151 (96)W Anglia Gt Northern 63 (27)West Coast 1,693 (863) Train companies have been fined a record £100m for delays and cancellations, with long- suffering passengers complaining in their thousands over unreliable services.The worst three performers under criteria set out by the Strategic Rail Authority were the commuter routes Connex South Eastern, which was forced to pay £12.5m, South West Trains (£11.5m) and Great Eastern (£10.2m).The Government ordered the beleaguered rail network to “get its act together” after the damning figures were published yesterday amid an unprecedented number of complaints from passengers, and disturbing signs that more trains are passing red lights.Stephen Byers, the Transport Secretary, pushed aside the retiring head of the all-powerful Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) and predicted there would be a new person at the helm in the autumn – some six months before the incumbent is finally due to leave.Betraying his frustration with the current SRA chairman, Sir Alastair Morton, Mr Byers said he wanted the authority to “get the simple things right” and become more focused on the safety, punctuality and comfort of the country’s trains.After meeting all the main players in the industry on Tuesday, Mr Byers said “everybody was blaming everybody else” for the state of the network.

He indicated that the Government was considering the merger of the SRA, which has primary responsibility for the train operators, with the rail regulator, who has to monitor the performance of the infrastructure company Railtrack.Mr Byers said he would be publishing new “more focused” guidelines for letting train franchises on 16 July, and that the new head of the SRA would be expected to draw up a strategy statement in November.It is known that the Transport Secretary will be in a battle with the Treasury in the autumn in an attempt to increase the £30bn public expenditure envisaged in the Government’s 10-year plan.Mr Byers revealed that the network’s dismal performance – much of it after the Hatfield rail disaster – led to train companies paying £103m in penalty payments to the SRA in the 12 months ending in March 2001 That compared with £870,000 in 1999-2000. The latest performance figures made “grim reading”, Mr Byers said.The number of complaints for the 2000-2001 financial year increased by 20 per cent compared with 1999-2000. Complaints increased by 53 per cent between October 2000 and March 2001, after the Hatfield crash, compared with the same period in the previous year. Silverlink, which operates services from north London to the Midlands, had the lowest overall satisfaction figure for 2000-01, with only 55 per cent of its passengers rating the company either as good or satisfactory.Apart from the tiny Isle of Wight line, which achieved an overall satisfaction figure of 91 per cent, the best companies for keeping customers happy were Chiltern (89 per cent) and Gatwick Express (87 per cent).Train performance in the six months from October 2000 was badly hit on long-distance routes, where the effects of the post-Hatfield speed limits were greatest.Virgin CrossCountry, whose routes cover the whole of Britain, experienced a 50 per cent decline in performance from October 2000 to March 2001 compared with October 1999 to March 2000.Virgin West Coast had a 40 per cent drop, while the east coast main line operator, GNER, saw a 29 per cent fall. Other big percentage performance declines included Gatwick Express (down by 24 per cent), Thameslink (23 per cent), Midland Mainline (22 per cent) and West Anglia Great Northern (22 per cent).As well as the effects of the Hatfield crash, train companies also had to contend with floods in what was the wettest year in England and Wales since 1872.Chris Irwin, a member of the Rail Passengers Council, said: “Despite the train companies’ improvement in performance since hitting rock-bottom after Hatfield, the number of temporary speed restrictions is still hampering train operators’ efforts to run the full advertised service to time.”Passengers were promised a return to normal working by Christmas last year, then by this Easter, then by the start of the summer timetable.

Real improvement still seems miles away.”Passengers have shown enormous tolerance and understanding of the difficulties faced by the railway industry But their patience is bound to wear thin. The industry really needs to get its act together if we are to see the shift to rail that we are all hoping for.”. Thousands of British holidaymakers flying to Spain’s Balearic islands face bleak prospects today as a strike by coach drivers looks likely to drag on into this week. Thousands of British holidaymakers flying to Spain’s Balearic islands face bleak prospects today as a strike by coach drivers looks likely to drag on into this week. Travellers leaving Britain faced delays of up to 36 hours yesterday as the drivers rejected a provisional deal reached between unions and employers.Last night there were fears that the strike, which was due to end at midnight tonight, may go on.