Edinburgh tram chief quits 03 | 11 | 2010

    JUST WHEN you might have thought the Edinburgh trams nightmare couldn't get any worse, it has: David Mackay, chairman of both Edinburgh Trams and Lothian Buses has quit. And quit with immediate effect.

    In a parting shot, the hugely respected transport visionary has launched a stinging attack on the ill-fated, multi-million pound project which is on schedule to be grossly over its £545 million budget and has ground to an embarrassing halt as the city council and German contract Bilfinger Berger bicker over the way forward.

    Mackay (67), who branded the whole Edinburgh trams experience as "hell on wheels", also believes the project would have run better and more efficiently if it had been handed to a Scottish contractor.

    The decision by Mackay, who branded Bilfinger Berger as a "delinquent contractor who scented a victim, who probably greatly underbid and who would use the contract to make life extremely difficult for the city" is likely to plunge the capital project into even more turmoil. Though quite how things could get even worse is almost too difficult to imagine.

    No one has been earmarked to replace Mackay, and the significance of the timing for Edinburgh can not be overstated: it comes at a crucial time for city council-owned tram developer Tie, which is weeks away from the expected termination of its contract with the construction consortium.

    Mackay has also resigned as chairman of bus-tram co-ordinating body Transport Edinburgh. He has been chairman of council-owned Lothian Buses since January.

    Despite Tie urging him to stay on, Mackay believed a clean break was necessary for the project to get back ontrack. His decision to walk away comes just weeks after a series of new setbacks and rows — which are expected to end in court — with Bilfinger over the 11.5-mile Edinburgh airport-Newhaven line. The latest opening date for the tramline is now 2013 .... but even that now seems hugely optimistic.

    Keep up-to-date with all the latest news by following us on twitter.com/scotcars

    Jim McGill

User Comments

Login or register to post comments.