The owner of Ayr’s Station Hotel building should be forced to cover the costs of the disruption caused by its poor condition according to Brian Whittle MSP.
The South Scotland MSP made the comments after discovering that publicly owned Network Rail has already had to shell out over £724,000 in compensation to train operators. Network Rail provide compensation on a per train/ per mile basis to Scotrail when trains can’t use the track due to engineering work or other issues. In response to a question from Brian Whittle, Network Rail said that from August 27th to November 9th, they had paid Scotrail £724,000 through this arrangement and that the bill was continuing to rise.
Now, with Network Rail, South Ayrshire Council, and the Scottish Government all racking up huge costs for scaffolding, surveys, emergency repair work and administrative costs, the MSP wants to see every effort made to claw the money back from the building’s owner.
Brian Whittle MSP said:
“On top of all the disruption caused by the temporary exclusion zone, now it looks like taxpayers are in danger of having to foot a huge bill. It’s only right that we do everything possible to ensure the public aren’t left footing the bill for any more of this than they have to. This is a privately owned building and its owner should bear responsibility for the chaos caused by their failure to maintain it appropriately.
With work still going on and the structural survey yet to report, I’m worried we might just be seeing the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the final cost of dealing with the Station Hotel building.”
