West Somerset Railway General Discussion

First of, I agree with Ms White wrt defamation cases. There is a lot to be said for, ignore and move on.
However , with all the will in the World, most of us have a breaking point, some lower than others
( I certainly can on occasion snap )

I do not know the nature of whatever has been sent to Mrs Norman. Other than what JMA has
posted on this forum. ( How he knows I know not )

I assume , that whatever has ( or has not been ) sent is a personal issue between the gentleman,
who happens to be Chair of the WSR Plc, and Mrs Norman. AFAIK it has not been sent as an
'open' letter ?

Michael Rowe

 

Please reroute your plea to the board of the plc, c/o Minehead station.
No-one on this forum has the power to close the railway.

Keith

 

The question is, do the board of the plc have the power not to close the railway?

 

Personally I would have ended your post after the words 'lock the door'.

 

Because once a mindless bully ......

 

They do have the power to change direction, but I suspect some of the board would have to grow a backbone and new board members elected to change the structure, Clearly the present board of 3, possibly 4, will all have to go, to be removed, and replaced by a new board then and only then can things move forward, that is assuming they want to see the railway survive beyond 2021, under the present board I have to say, I doubt the line can survive in any form.

 

If JJP loses the libel action, where will he get the money from to pay all the costs? Libel lawyers don't work for nothing!

 

I'm sure that you are not alone.

 

His Surname fits...

 

Two thoughts about expectations which I suspect apply in many such cases. One is that the person bringing the case doesn't expect to have to follow through (see the history behind Arkell for an example); the other that he can't imagine losing and therefore having to stump up the costs.

 

Difficult to close one anyway that's not really open at the moment

 

I suppose that is why starting a defamation action appeals to bullies; intimidating the defendant into settling out of court can be lucrative. Suing somebody who may have the weight of a big employer behind her may not be so clever, though.

 

I would be more interested in the defendant's union and it's pockets for something that was done in her professional capacity.

 

Is her employer behind her though? Whilst I completely disagree with the WSRs actions, it was perhaps unwise to express her personal opinions on her employer’s letterhead.

 

I believe it was confirmed at the time that the letter was written with the consent of the school governors, so not just a personal opinion.

 

And a court case, where questions would be asked of the Chairman, some pressing questions about the decisions taken, might further do damage to the railway, under this current boards stewardship, then what more would it take for the Council to protect it's own reputation , might they in turn if facing questions be forced to strip the WSR PLC of their lease of the line, to protect the councils investment? if this goes badly wrong for the PLC, It could possibly go very wrong indeed.

 

I think it is most unlikley that the matter would end up anywhere near a court

 

I think, perhaps not for the first time, a degree of not getting too far ahead of ourselves is in order. Independently verified facts are scarce, so there is lots of vacuum to be filled.

On the substantive point above though: "then what more would it take for the Council to protect it's own reputation , might they in turn if facing questions be forced to strip the WSR PLC of their lease of the line, to protect the councils investment?" Regardless of the right and wrongs, that's just not how it will work out. The SCC "investment", such as it is, is all sunk money in cash terms: there is negligible chance that will come back, so nothing to "protect". Far more important is the continued existence of the railway as an employer and attractor of inward (tourist) spend into the County. Talk of stripping the plc of the lease to protect the investment is fantasy: just suppose they did - who then would operate the railway? You need to distinguish the plc as an entity from the individuals who currently happen to be directing it.

Tom

 

That's not always the case, try Googling "libel no win no fee".

Patrick