Melbourne's tram restaurant sues Yarra Trams over claims $10m sale fell through
The Colonial Tramcar restaurant is suing Yarra Trams and Public Transport Victoria (PTV) over claims a $10 million sale fell through after its carriages were taken off the rails.
Yarra Trams took all three of the company’s heritage trams out of service over safety concerns in collisions.
The owner of Melbourne's restaurant trams is now suing the public transport bodies for allegedly failing to provide it with three trams to continue operating, as per its long-term agreement with the two transport bodies.
The boss of Colonial Tramcar Restaurant, Paul O’Brien, claimed that Bendigo Workshops were unable to schedule the required upgrades of the three trams until 2020.
The company now wants Yarra Trams, or alternatively PTV, to provide Colonial Tramcar with three trams in order to run its business.
Colonial Tramcar says negotiations for a $10 million sale of the business fell through, due to "Yarra Trams' conduct in decommissioning the trams and its refusal to perform its obligation".
Colonial Tramcar also wants the more than $243,000 it paid to Yarra Trams handed back, saying it was paid "under protest and upon and express reservation of its right to recover that amount from Yarra Trams".
Sheridan Randall, 16th October 2019
