THE GOVERNMENT has slapped rail franchise Govia with a £23.5m fine over a breach of an agreement relating to High Speed One (HS1).

The penalty notice for the company- run by the Go-Ahead Group (65 per cent) and Keolis (35 per cent) - was issued yesterday to the operating firm London & South

Eastern Railway Limited (LSER).

It comes after evidence was found that Govia deliberately concealed £25m of taxpayer funding related to HS1, which should have been returned.

"I took decisive action and did not renew the contract with Southeastern following this appalling breach of trust", transport secretary Grant Shapps said.

The £23.5m fine is on top of £64m recovered from LSER in relation to the franchise agreement contraventions.

The Department for Transport, yesterday (DofT) said breaches at the franchise occurred between 2014 and 2020, while a review uncovered evidence of similar behaviour as early as 2006. LSER ran the services from 2006 until it was stripped of the licence in October 2021.

(c) 2022 City A.M., source Newspaper