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Labour says it will look at stripping ‘woeful’ Avanti West Coast of its contract if elected

"No ifs, no buts, October 2026 will be the last date for Avanti."

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant - 13th June 2024

Labour has said it will look at stripping Avanti West Coast of its contract, if elected next month, due to the company’s “woeful service”.

Ahead of the upcoming General Election due to take place on Thursday 4 July, Labour and its leader, Sir Keir Starmer, have been outlining the Party’s vision for the both the immediate and long-term future of the country – and now, Shadow Transport Secretary, Louise Haigh, has been having her say on a topic that continues to affect many Greater Manchester residents.

Avanti has been operating the West Coast Main Line service – which is one of the most important railway corridors in the UK – since December 2019 after taking over from Virgin, and was controversially awarded a long-term contract to continue operation in September of last year.

Before this, the train company had previously been given until 1 April 2023 to continue running the route from London to Glasgow, but had been told due to its chaotic past that it needed to “drastically improve” its services if it was to stand any chance of having the contract extended further beyond that date.

Labour says it will look at stripping ‘woeful’ Avanti West Coast of its contract if elected / Credit: Avanti West Coast | Flickr

Office of Rail and Road figures show that Avanti West Coast had the third-worst reliability of all operators in Britain in the year to the end of March – with the equivalent of one in 15 trains (6.9%) cancelled.

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A new study published in April even revealed it as Britain’s “most unreliable” train operator overall.

Despite many customers continuing to voice discontent with level of services during this time, the Department for Transport (DfT) still went on to award Avanti another six-month contract extension from the start of April onwards, after it deemed “significant improvements had been made since October”.

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Following DfT reviews, once again, Avanti’s long-term contract to operate the line was subsequently awarded in mid-September 2023.

When asked about Avanti West Coast’s future, and pressed on Labour’s plan to bring train services into public ownership during an interview with Kay Burley on Sky News yesterday morning (13 June), Shadow Transport Secretary Louise Haigh explained: “Our commitment is to bring in those contracts as they expire or when they are breached.

“I anticipate I will be seeking advice early on whether Avanti has been in breach of its contract, given the woeful service that it’s been providing to passengers down the West Coast Main Line.”

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Ms Haigh then insisted that October 2026 would be Avanti’s cut-off date, if Labour’s elected.

“No ifs, no buts, October 2026 will be the last date Avanti will have notice of that contract ending,” she added, “But I will ask for early advice about whether they have already breached their contract and whether it can be brought in any earlier.”

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Labour’s voicing of its intent to strip Avanti West Coast of its contract also comes after the Party announced its vision to transform the country’s childcare and early years education system earlier this week.

The Party pledged to convert more than 3,000 vacant school classrooms across England into nursery facilities if elected next month.

Featured Image – Avanti West Coast

News

Tesco are introducing ‘VAR-style’ self-checkouts in the UK

Danny Jones Danny Jones Tesco VAR self checkout video

Many people think VAR has already gone too far and want it gone from football full stop, and we’re here to tell you that you’re a fool; your hopes are in vain, and the technology is only going to become more common as time goes on. Sorry.

So much so, in fact, that Tesco look are bringing in their own virtual referee into self-checkout systems in shops. You could say the ‘game’s gone…’

Of course, we’re being a bit flippant here, but if you have seen ‘VAR’ and ‘Tesco‘, you’re not seeing things: this is genuinely a thing that is being rolled out here in the UK, with video footage of the supermarket chain’s next self-checkout technology going viral online.

Thought you’d got away with sneaking an extra little something in the bag without paying? Think again.

We’ll admit, this was the first time we’d come across the technology, but as it turns out, the updated self-checkout service has been in place for a while.

Similar VAR checkouts have already been installed at other retailers, Sainsbury’s and ASDA, although some reports claim that while stores capture footage of shoppers to check if they’ve scanned all of their items, it is thought that not all of these self-service tills show a playback when an error is detected.

Although this particular speculation has sparked some uproar and debate online, many have quite rightly pointed out that CCTV records your movement in any given shop.

Regardless, it’s fair to say that aside from the obvious memes and people poking fun at the new system, many on social media have shared some pretty strong opinions on the matter.

Not that it matters much – it’s likely this will soon become increasingly the norm, with the likes of Sainsbury’s having already introduced barriers which require customers to scan their receipt in order to leave at branches such as the site on Regent Road Retail Park over in Salford.

As yet, it’s unclear how many of these new self-service tills are in operation and whether they are limited to larger supermarket locations of their Express convenience stores, but don’t be surprised if you come across one.

Put simply, if a barcode isn’t registered before being put on the scale and/or set aside to be packed away, the Tesco till will read: “The last item wasn’t scanned properly. Remove from bagging area and try again.”

While it is obviously an effort to curb stealing, which remains one of the big drawbacks of self-service (shoplifting in England and Wales went up by 20% last year), Tesco has insisted that the goal is to improve convenience.

Addressing these new VAR-style checkouts in an official statement, a company spokesperson said: “We are always looking at technology to make life easier for our customers.

“We have recently installed a new system at some stores which helps customers using self-service checkouts identify if an item has not been scanned properly, making the checkout process quicker and easier.”

What do you make of the new Tesco and their new VAR self-checkout technology?

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You can now get a Pot Noodle as part of your Tesco meal deal
We don’t know about Tesco perpetuating VAR, but we can definitely get behind this one – that’s for damn sure.

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images — Tesco PLC/pin add/Mikey (via Flickr)

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Ruben Amorim reacts as Manchester United are booed off after Malaysia friendly

Danny Jones Danny Jones Ruben Amorim on Man United being booed off in Malaysia friendly

Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim has delivered a fairly brutal response after his club were booed off by supporters during a friendly in Malaysia.

The Red Devils recently embarked on a post-season tour following a calamitous 2024/25 campaign, both domestically and continentally, with that limp loss in the Europa League final, but have already resumed what has become alarmingly normal service with yet another defeat.

Finding themselves on the wrong end of a 1-0 scoreline against ASEAN All-Stars in Kuala Lumpur – a squad comprised of various talents from around the region who had never played together before and were only founded as an actual team back in 2014 – it was all far from clean slates and fresh starts.

In the wake of the shock result, Man United were booed off by the Malaysian and other international fans inside the Bukit Jalil National Stadium, which saw more than 70,000 in attendance.

For context, the ASEAN All-Stars had only trained together for the first time just days before the game itself, but the de facto exhibition outfit still managed to break the deadlock in the 71st minute against a United side that rarely looked like scoring.

What made things even more damning was that so many up in the stands travelled from far and wide to see Ruben’s Reds and what remains a beloved global sporting brand drastically disappoint, with some reported as having paid as much as $350 (approximately £260) for a ticket.

All that being said, Amorim had some choice words for his own players in his post-match duties after their first post-season tour fixture, insisting that while he always remains accountable, those out on the pitch perhaps received somewhat of a deserved reckoning too.

He began by stating, “I’m always guilty of the performance of the team, no matter what. [I have been responsible] since the first day”, but went on to argue: “The boos from the fans, I think it something that we need, maybe.”

It’s also been claimed that Amorim has now told young winger Alejandro Garnacho to find a new club due to some of his recent public comments – a conversation which is said to have taken place in front of other teammates.

Citing that the Old Trafford faithful and die-hard away fans have always been loyal and supportive despite frustration in the league, he suggested that “maybe they will change the way they behave” following this latest reality check.

Despite adding that he has seen reasons for optimism in performances against Man City and Liverpool, for instance, where he felt he saw “belief” and seeds of what’s to come, he’s made very few excuses for the poor displays up to now.

United face the Hong Kong national team in their next friendly on Friday, 29 May, and it’s fair to say anything less than a win would be beyond bad for the predictably unpredictable Premier League club.

You can see his full post-match press conference down below.

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Featured Images — Manchester United (screenshot via YouTube)/Edward Kuruvilla (via X)

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