DfT proposes financial penalty in relation to LSER

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION

THE GO-AHEAD GROUP PLC

("GO-AHEAD" OR "THE GROUP")

Department for Transport announces financial penalty in relation to London & South Eastern Railway Ltd

Go-Ahead announces that the Department for Transport (DfT) has stated that it has issued a £23.5m penalty notice to London & Southeastern Railway Ltd (LSER) in respect of good faith contraventions of LSER franchise agreements.

In its results for the year ended 3 July 2021, published on 24 February 2022, the Group recognised a provision of £30.0m in its accounts in respect of a potential financial penalty from the DfT in relation to LSER.

The amount payable to the DfT is expected to be settled from LSER's restricted cash balance.

The person responsible for arranging the release of this announcement on behalf of the Group is Carolyn Ferguson, Company Secretary.

ENDS

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GO-AHEADGo-Ahead is a leading public transport operator, connecting communities through bus and rail services. Our purpose is to be the local partner taking care of journeys that enhance the lives and wellbeing of our communities across the world.We employ more than 27,000 people across our bus and rail businesses in the UK, Singapore, Ireland, Norway and Germany. In addition to the travelling public, our customers include governments and local authorities. We are committed to tackling climate change, poor air quality and social isolation. 

BUSGo-Ahead is one of the UK's largest bus operators. We run a fleet of more than 6,000 buses across England and run a quarter of London's buses for Transport for London. Outside London, we serve high-density commuter markets in the North East, Greater Manchester, East Yorkshire, Oxfordshire, East Anglia, the South East and the South West of England. We also operate a bus contract in Singapore and two bus contracts in Ireland. 

RAILWe operate rail franchises in the UK, Germany and Norway. In the UK, we run the country's largest passenger franchise, GTR (Southern, Gatwick Express, Great Northern and Thameslink). This is managed through our 65 per cent owned subsidiary Govia, which is 35 per cent owned by Keolis UK. In Germany and Norway, our contracts are run exclusively by Go-Ahead.