VOTE: Green signal for Darrell to run his seafront train

Arun District Council has reversed its decision to strip Mr Hardy of the contract to run the popular service along the promenade.

It means his daily journeys between the Butlins car park and Clarence Road are guaranteed until the end of 2012. The jobs of his 11 part-time employees are also safeguarded by the go-ahead to continue operating.

The shock move by Arun has seen intended operator Inspire Leisure told it was no longer required because it was unable to secure a train for this summer.

Mr Hardy said: "I am going to continue to provide the current service until the new train which I promised I would provide as part of my tender for the operation is ready later on this summer."

Inspire Leisure chief executive John Stride said: "We don't agree about why the council should have changed its mind. We would be interested to know on what basis the decision was made.

"I have not seen any formal decision made to take away that agreement.

We have been in further discussions with Arun since the original decision was made to award the contract to us and it has never been mentioned we would be at fault in any way if we did not provide a train this summer."

The council's latest decision was announced by Ian Sumnall, its chief executive, on Tuesday. He said: "The council did not act as swiftly as it could have done in this situation and for that we are sorry. We are revising our policies and procedures to ensure this does not happen again."

The Observer revealed last month Arun's decision to award the contract for the new train service until December 31, 2012, to not-for-profit leisure operator Inspire Leisure '“ despite its lack of a train and councillors' informal backing for Mr Hardy.

One of those who supported Mr Hardy, Cllr Paul Wells, said: "Clearly, questions still need to be asked as to how we arrived at this situation.

"I would like the audit committee at Arun to review the process of how tenders are awarded.

"This must not happen again."

The decision to remove the train service from Mr Hardy '“ whose family has run the train since it started in 1979 '“ attracted much criticism. He was asked to carry on temporarily while the new train was built for Inspire Leisure.

But a council spokeswoman has told the Observer: "It has become apparent Inspire Leisure is not able to provide any train in time for the 2010 season. Consequently, their proposal does not comply with the terms required by the council for the operation of the promenade train."

It was essential the train '“ which carries thousands of passengers a year '“ continued to operate successfully, the spokeswoman said. A temporary arrangement which lasted all summer would not be satisfactory.

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