Train not for Timpson

A little knowledge can be dangerous, so the saying goes, and to prove the point is another ill-informed utterance from Edward Timpson (the man with marginally more charisma than a Burton’s dummy). Eddie has taken the news of more job losses at Bombardier Transportation, who run the Railway Works, badly. So badly, in fact, that he has become apparently unable to figure out that Bombardier do not build or maintain trains at Crewe.

Here’s the latest pearl of unwisdom from Timpson: “We were so hopeful before the Government’s ‘British jobs for Japanese workers’ scandal a few months ago, when the Department for Transport awarded a key rail contract to Hitachi, not Bombardier”.

So what? Well, Eddie is plain flat wrong on just the three points.

First, even if Bombardier had got the nod over Hitachi, that would not have brought one single job to Crewe – and neither would it have been of any use to the company’s UK manufacturing plant, at Derby, as the trains would have been built abroad.

Second, the Hitachi deal is actually better for British jobs than the Bombardier proposal, as it brings at least some assembly work to the country.

Third, the Bombardier bid was significantly more expensive than the Hitachi one, so it’s good to see Eddie is in favour of wasting public money, as well as not bringing any more jobs to Crewe or the wider UK.

Meanwhile, the Labour Prospective Parliamentary Candidate (PPC) David Williams has at least figured out what goes on at Crewe Works. He has commented “Crewe Works needs Bombardier to win more repair and refurbishment work”. He is right, because that is what function the Railway Works has within the Bombardier empire right now.

Meanwhile, what has Eddie actually achieved with his comments? A few column inches, name in the paper again, electorate misinformed, no jobs saved. But not to worry, because he’s also said “I will do my bit in fighting Bombardier’s corner”.

Judging by his track record so far, it won’t amount to much.