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Rail bosses go to IPSO over report of comments made at council meeting

A rail operator complained to the press watchdog after a regional daily reported what it claimed were “false accusations” which were made about it during a council meeting.

The Hull Daily Mail had covered a council debate at which one councillor had criticised TransPennine Express.

But even though publication of the councillor’s comments was covered by qualified privilege, the company complained to the Independent Press Standards Organisation on the grounds of accuracy, adding that it had not been contacted for comment by the Mail.

The complaint was later dropped after the Mail agreed to publish a statement from TransPennine Express.

Hull train

The Mail’s story covered a council debate, during which rail links between Hull and Manchester were discussed.

It reported that a councillor “said Hull’s position at the end of the line was reflected in the current remote management of [Hull] Paragon station with operator TransPennine Express employing someone in Huddersfield to carry out the role”.

The article featured a direct quote from the councillor, who said: “The last two station managers in Hull were not only based here but one had been a train driver and the other had worked on trains.

“Now we have the ridiculous situation of the current manager representing the station while working in Huddersfield.”

Complaining under Clause 1 (Accuracy) of the Editors’ Code of Practice, TransPennine Express Hull station was not managed remotely.

It added that the councillor specifying two of the current manager’s predecessors had worked on the railways implied that he had not, which was not the case.

In response, the Mail said the alleged inaccuracies were taken from comments made by the councillor at the debate, which it had reported accurately.

However, it agreed to publish a statement from a TransPennine Express spokesperson as part of the online version of the article.

The spokesperson said: “We are extremely disappointed that the Hull Daily Mail chose to print the false accusations made in a council meeting about the management of Hull station without contacting TransPennine Express to confirm whether or not they were true.

“This has led to undue criticism of TransPennine Express and our group station manager for Humberside on social media and within the station itself.

“Our group station manager for Humberside is an experienced railway professional with several years’ experience in leading teams and Hull station is certainly not remotely managed from Huddersfield.”

This resolved the matter to the company’s satisfaction, and therefore IPSO discontinued its investigation.

The full resolution statement can be read here.

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  • March 16, 2020 at 3:16 pm
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    would have been wiser to have asked the company for comment. It is called balanced reporting, for those yet to pass their exams.

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