More than 30,000 people have now supported an e-petition urging the Government to re-think it’s decision to name FirstGroup as the new operator of the West Coast Mainline.
FirstGroup was awarded the sought after franchise after submitting a bid £5.5 billion for the 14-year contract.
Since the announcement last week, Virgin, who have run the service between London and Scotland since 1997, have raised doubts about feasibility of the bid.
Tim O’Toole, chief executive of FirstGroup, said the bid was a “deliverable proposition” and that FirstGroup would improve the service, reducing journey times and introducing new direct services.
Richard Branson has backed the online petition, saying: “It is not all over in the battle to make the Government see sense and reconsider the decision to award the West Coast Mainline franchise to FirstGroup.”
When petitions attain 100,000 signatures they are then considered for debate in the House of Commons.
