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It tried to do a deal with the government, but Lord Adonis, the transport secretary, was in a Catch 22 situation. If he helped out, he ran the risk of looking weak and having a horde of other train companies asking for changes to their deals.

If he said no, he would say goodbye to a seasoned operator and run the risk of having a much less lucrative re-letting of the contract after a potentially problematic period of public ownership. He professed this week not to have negotiated with the company, but it transpires — as we reported at the time — that his officials had in fact offered National Express talks on a management contract. Did Adonis know they had done this? If he did, then his later assurances that there were no negotiations look ill-advised. If he did not, then he perhaps needs to keep a tighter rein on his officials.

There are more twists to come on this one. The two sides are miles apart on the future of the other two National Express franchises, East Anglia and C2C. It might all end up in court — as might the east coast battle in the end.

Bite the bullet, BT

As Wimbledon finishes, thoughts traditionally turn to summer holidays. BT has been pondering them more than most companies lately. Instead of cutting staff, the telecoms group, which prides itself on being a flexible employer, wants hundreds of its workers to take a long break in exchange for a pay cut.

Staff are being offered sabbaticals on 25% of their salary, or £1,000 in cash to go from full to part-time for at least six months. Apparently, staff are already planning how they will best use the new scheme, with many thinking about taking a couple of months off for the next three years.

BT is already cutting 30,000 jobs in two years and argues that it doesn’t want to lose good staff to whom it may have to pay extra to bring back in the future.

The scheme is not dissimilar to that at British Airways, where thousands of staff have agreed to work for nothing in July.

But there comes a point when BT has to bite the bullet. If the company thinks it can manage without some people for one month a year, should it perhaps try to cope without them for the other 11?

A pact with its trade unions to avoid compulsory redundancies looks harder and harder to preserve. And a retraining programme where staff are in effect paid to do nothing is not acceptable in this economic climate.

If Ian Livingston, the chief executive who revels in his reputation as a cost-cutter, is serious about stamping his own mark on BT, then tinkering such as this is not enough.

dominic.oconnell@sunday-times.co.uk

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