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Office of Rail and Road: Retail Trade

Asked by Alex MayerLabourDepartment for TransportTabled Answered 11 December 2025UIN 97050

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what transparency, reporting and accounting requirements will be placed on the Office of Rail and Road to undertake effective monitoring and competition oversight of GBR’s retail activities.

Answered by Keir Mather

GBR’s licence will require it to comply with a code of practice, which will be owned and managed by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR). The code will govern GBR’s retail industry management functions and other relevant activity. It will incorporate clear requirements for how GBR interacts with all market participants and impose separation of decision-making where relevant.

Under this approach, third parties will be able to challenge any GBR decisions or actions they consider to be non-compliant, by raising them directly with the ORR. The ORR will be required to investigate and, if it considers that GBR has not complied, it will be able to demand corrective action by issuing binding orders.

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