POOR performance has cost under-fire rail operator Arriva Trains Northern more than £13 million.

New figures show the beleaguered company has paid £4.79 million in fines to the rail watchdog - the Strategic Rail Authority - in the last six months to October.

Today, chiefs at the SRA also revealed that, so far this year, Arriva had been penalised a total of £13.331 million.

The new figures, detailed in a national passenger survey from the SRA, reveal the true extent of the crisis at Arriva.

In October, Arriva announced it was to cut about 800 services a week in Yorkshire from its winter timetable.

The SRA is currently considering whether to fine Arriva another £2 million for cancellations to this year's summer timetable.

The company has blamed driver shortages for its difficulties. But the report also reveals that, in the last six months, just over 86 per cent of Arriva's trains turned up on time, down 11 per cent on last year.

An SRA spokesman said: "In the six months from April 1 to October 14, Arriva Trains Northern made payments to the SRA totalling £4.79 million. For the year to October 2001, the total was £13.331 million."

Ray Price, managing director of Arriva Trains Northern, said: "The figures issued by the Strategic Rail Authority are as we anticipated and reflect the driver shortage issue we inherited when we were awarded the franchise.

"Since we introduced the temporary revised timetable, cancellations have been significantly reduced. Indeed, feedback from customers indicates they welcome the certainty that the revised timetable is now providing.

"When we were awarded the franchise in February 2000, a staffing review indicated that there were insufficient drivers to meet the future needs of the business. To address this, Arriva launched one of the largest driver recruitment and training programmes ever seen in the industry. The revised timetable is a short-term measure to help us to deal with the issue of train driver shortage - a national problem affecting many train operating companies and one which we are committed to resolving."

Meanwhile, the plight of ill-fated Railtrack was blamed today for the loss of about ten jobs at a York computer company.

VST Comreco Rail, based in Blossom Street, which has a workforce of about 100, said it had "no option" but to implement the redundancies as a result of Railtrack going into administration.

The track company was a major customer of the IT firm, which specialises in planning, management and simulation systems. Its Blossom Street office devised the long-term train scheduling software for Railtrack.

Updated: 10:21 Friday, December 14, 2001