TRANSPORT workers called on the new Rail Minister yesterday to “pull the plug” on Govia Thameslink’s “basket case” operation of Southern Rail.

The government has revealed that it can strip GTR of the Southern franchise if its new drastically reduced timetable is deemed to have breached agreements on planned cancellations.

Rail union RMT urged Rail Minister Paul Maynard not to let GTR “off the hook” by accepting the company’s claim of a “force majeure” — defining levels of cancellation as an extraordinary event beyond GTR’s control.