THE chairman of Merseytravel last night accused senior officers of Liverpool council of deliberately trying to ambush the city's tram project.
Cllr Mark Dowd launched an extraordinary attack on city officials, claiming they had never wanted the scheme to go ahead.
His outburst followed an executive board meeting of the council last Friday, when their lawyers advised it would be unlawful to write a blank cheque to cover any increase in cost for the £280m scheme.
Merseytravel said there was a clear implication in the legal advice given to the council that Cllr Dowd's team had "been party to an attempt to mislead and defraud the Department for Transport" over the funding package. The authority firmly rejected this implication yesterday.
As a result of the legal advice it received, the council refused to sign a document - called a "comfort letter" - in which it agreed to underwrite a £24m contingency fund to cover any budget over-runs, with Merseytravel agreeing to cover any further costs.
However, Cllr Dowd said the legal advice received by the council was flawed as the DfT was fully aware of the financial package agreed between Liverpool and Knowsley councils, and Merseytravel.
The authority said it would now consider taking legal action if the advice led to the DfT refusing to release the £170m it had agreed to contribute.
Cllr Dowd told the transport authority meeting: "Liverpool city council officers have without any doubt tried to be politicians. They have never wanted this scheme from day one."
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