Caller Falls Flat After Telling James O'Brien Everything He Said Was Wrong
2 January 2018, 11:31
This caller told James O'Brien he had got everything completely wrong and he was going to list all the ways. It didn't go well.
James suggested that having train profits going into the pockets of shareholders instead of being re-invested was clearly not the best way to get a good service. And he asked why fares are so much more expensive in Britain than around Europe.
Simon in Sidcup called in, a part-time railway writer who is about to train as a train engineer.
He started confrontationally, saying: "Nigel Harris, the editor of Rail Magazine, could literally in about five minutes take everything you've said and say actually you're wrong on every single count."
James asked him to go through them and, right from the off, it didn't go according to plan.
First, Simon claimed that the government sets ticket prices, but James informed him that they only regulate half of the fare at RPI ininflation, plus 1% each year. The rest are set at commercial rates.
Things then went from bad to worse.
Watch the video at the top to see the whole call.
