Reception held by Metronet and Tubelines, the two private consortia now running our tube infra structure. They made positive speeches about their effort and commitment and seemed so genuine. Such a shock and horror then when you see the statistics showing a deterioration in their performance since takeover.

They spent a good chunk of the reception saying that they didn’t recognise the figures published in the newspapers and that they were not accurate. Well – they would – wouldn’t they? That is one of the big problems on the tube – no accurate baseline. No accurate targets that are understandable. No measurable indicators for normal human beings.

Tim O’Toole (Transport for London’s Managing Director of London Underground) was there too. I nobbled him in a corner because my scrutiny officers had said that he didn’t want to come and give evidence to my committee ‘again’. I had hauled him into to answer questions following the tube derailment – rightly!

When cornered – he gracefully conceded that of course he wanted to come. He didn’t know where I got the idea from that he didn’t Of course, it would be better if he came after his report on performance came out in a few weeks. OK! A compromise is fine by me.