Closure by stealth
Encyclopedia
Closure by stealth is a term most frequently used in the UK and Ireland
to refer to the deliberate downgrading of a service by the management or owners with the intention of driving away users or customers. The aim is to make the service uneconomical, and thereby justify its closure or withdrawal. It is most widely used in the case of government-regulated
services, where a company needs permission from local government
or central government
to withdraw a service.
while British Rail
were operating services were justified at the time by deliberately not including future efficiencies and bringing forward many years of future costs into a short time frame to show, by accounting, that the route was not sustainable. By degrading the quality of the service — for example by scheduling trains to run at inconvenient times or frequencies (known as parliamentary train
services) or by raising fares — transport operators can force passengers to take other modes of transport, justifying the view of the service owner that the service is no longer required (a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy
)
in the UK, which are regulated by the UK Government under the Universal Service Directive
of the European Union
. For coin-operated payphones, the minimum charge (October 2011) is 60p - substantially more than the cost of using a mobile phone
. In rural areas, the situation is even worse. Most rural phone boxes do not accept coins and are difficult and expensive to use. For further information on pricing see Payphone#United Kingdom.
at a Post office.
.
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
to refer to the deliberate downgrading of a service by the management or owners with the intention of driving away users or customers. The aim is to make the service uneconomical, and thereby justify its closure or withdrawal. It is most widely used in the case of government-regulated
Regulation
Regulation is administrative legislation that constitutes or constrains rights and allocates responsibilities. It can be distinguished from primary legislation on the one hand and judge-made law on the other...
services, where a company needs permission from local government
Local government
Local government refers collectively to administrative authorities over areas that are smaller than a state.The term is used to contrast with offices at nation-state level, which are referred to as the central government, national government, or federal government...
or central government
Central government
A central government also known as a national government, union government and in federal states, the federal government, is the government at the level of the nation-state. The structure of central governments varies from institution to institution...
to withdraw a service.
Railways
The classic examples of closure by stealth involve UK railway services. These are often regulated at some level by local or national government, and the only way the owner can withdraw such a service is by demonstrating that the local population no longer needs that service. Some of the UK rail closures made under the Beeching AxeBeeching Axe
The Beeching Axe or the Beeching Cuts are informal names for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom. The name is that of the main author of The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr Richard...
while British Rail
British Rail
British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...
were operating services were justified at the time by deliberately not including future efficiencies and bringing forward many years of future costs into a short time frame to show, by accounting, that the route was not sustainable. By degrading the quality of the service — for example by scheduling trains to run at inconvenient times or frequencies (known as parliamentary train
Parliamentary train
A Parliamentary train or Parly is, nowadays, a British English term for a train that operates a Parliamentary service - that is to say a token service to a given station, thus maintaining a legal fiction that either the station or, in some cases, the whole line is open, although in reality the...
services) or by raising fares — transport operators can force passengers to take other modes of transport, justifying the view of the service owner that the service is no longer required (a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy
Self-fulfilling prophecy
A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become true, by the very terms of the prophecy itself, due to positive feedback between belief and behavior. Although examples of such prophecies can be found in literature as far back as ancient Greece and...
)
Public telephones
Closure by stealth is also happening to public telephonesTelephone booth
A telephone booth, telephone kiosk, telephone call box or telephone box is a small structure furnished with a payphone and designed for a telephone user's convenience. In the USA, Canada and Australia, "telephone booth" is used, while in the UK and the rest of the Commonwealth it is a "telephone...
in the UK, which are regulated by the UK Government under the Universal Service Directive
Universal Service Directive
The Universal Service Directive or formally Directive 2002/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on universal service and users' rights relating to electronic communications networks and services addresses so called universal service obligations and users' rights...
of the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
. For coin-operated payphones, the minimum charge (October 2011) is 60p - substantially more than the cost of using a mobile phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
. In rural areas, the situation is even worse. Most rural phone boxes do not accept coins and are difficult and expensive to use. For further information on pricing see Payphone#United Kingdom.
Post offices
In the UK, Post offices are being downgraded by withdrawal of services. For example, it is no longer possible to buy a TV licenceTelevision licensing in the United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom and the Crown Dependencies, any household watching or recording live television transmissions is required to purchase a television licence every year. As of 2010, this costs £145.50 for colour and £49.00 for black and white. The licence is required to receive any live...
at a Post office.
Other services
Apparent closures by stealth have been observed in other services, such as hospitals, public libraries and magistrate courtsMagistrate
A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...
.