New rail minister threatened firm over engineer's Euston safety fears

The new rail minister threatened ina previous role to withhold public contracts from one of the UK's largest engineering groups until it disciplined a senior engineer for raising concerns about safety at one of London's busiest railway stations.

- Amelia Hill

In his former role as chair of Network Rail, Peter Hendy threatened Systra UK, which counts Network Rail among its main clients, with losing business not only from the public body but also its supply chain.

He told Network Rail officials to "deal with" the engineer, Gareth Dennis, and said the Systra CEO should be sent a "stop and desist" letter with a request for disciplinary action.

In an email to Systra, Lord Hendy said: "The allegation that Network Rail is running an unsafe operation is a serious one" and added: "Employees here know that what they say in the media reflects on their employment, and I should like confirmation that your employees understand that."

Six days after Hendy's letter to Systra on 14 May, Dennis was placed on suspension while an investigation was carried out into his comments in an Independent article published a month earlier in which he raised concerns that overcrowding at Euston station was unsafe. Hendy's complaint was cited in the suspension letter that Dennis received on 20 May.