The following article was written by the Liberal Democrat MP for Southport John Pugh and published on September 3rd on his website.

Rumours that the new Northern Franchise will have to use the much despised Pacer trains in a refurbished state for a few years yet have been met with anger by those who campaigners who have made the case to have them removed.

MP John Pugh is calling on the Chancellor to make good on his promise to see the back of them .

On June 24th the Chancellor said in the Commons

“…we will be seeking to try to get better and more modern carriages, because one of the experiences of people living in the north is a feeling that the carriages are not as good as those in the south of England, and we want to address that in the franchise.”

Sadly the Department of Transport don’t seem to have got the message and are considering prolonging their life.

“This isn’t utterly unexpected by those who have been pressing for change. Despite the fact that these obsolete carriages are not crashworthy, disability-compliant or even remotely comfortable and were never meant to be more than a stopgap, there are an awful lot of them about. Replacing them is a big job.

Angel Trains the leasing company who own them are bent on sweating their asset and are asking silly money for newer trains.

They have reason to feel they have got the Department of Transport by the throat. We need the Chancellor now to step in and make good on his promise.

I will be writing to the Chancellor but more importantly I will be asking every other North West MP effected to do so and quickly and calling them to do likewise. Promising us HS2 in 2030 but cattle-trucks for now is not an offer we can’t refuse”

Share your experiences of these trains: download John’s Pacer Campaign leaflet (pdf)