Souter hits out over subsidy

THE boss of transport group Stagecoach has hit out at the Department for Transport over a series of disputes.

Brian Souter is determined to force the Government to pay a subsidy he believes his company is due on its key London commuter line.

The dispute centres on the South West Trains service into London Waterloo. It is looking for government support to compensate for falling growth from April 2010 to February 2011, as well as compensation for failures over the installation of a smartcard ticketing system and other issues.