Metronet failure cost taxpayer upto £410m

The failure of  Tube contractor Metronet cost the taxpayer upto £410m, a report by the National Audit Office reported this week and left commuters with fewer improvements than promised under the Public Private Partnership.

The report also criticises the Department of Transport's failure to act to prevent Metronet's slide into failure.

The Public Accounts Committee chairman Edward Leigh said most of the blame for Metronet's collapse lay with the consortium itself,  but he added that " it is baffling - given how much taxpayer money was at stake - that the Department for Transport sat back and decided not to get involved in trying to sort out the Metronet mess."

He went on: "The lack of a formal role for the DfT in the PPP contract made it harder for the department to get a grip on the unfolding situation, but it did not even try to."

The report said the key cause of Metronet's collapse lay in its poor risk management and governance of contracts and warned that TfL must put in place improved  governance and risk management  strategies to protect the taxpayer from further loss.