Oral history interview with Nick Illsley, conducted and recorded by Michael Robson in London on 28 June 2019. Duration: 1 hr. 21 min. 04 sec. Career overview; Department for Transport (DfT) view on privatisation; separation of Thames and Chiltern; Adrian Shooter (Managing Director); West Midland Passenger Transport Executive (WMPTE); preparation of the Invitation to Tender (ITT) for franchising; on bidding and conflict of interest rules; Virgin bid for Thames; finance; differences of approach to ITT; Chair of Ticket and Settlement Management Group; Philip Benham; Computer Analysis of Passenger Revenue Information System (CAPRI); Operational Research Computerised Allocation of Tickets to Services (ORCATS); management buyout (MBO); Go Ahead; purchase of shares; relationship changes as privatisation progressed Schedule 4 and Schedule 8 payments; Chief Executive Officer National Rail Enquiries Service (NRES); British Telecom (BT); Serco; revenue growth; move to Transport Direct; future of rail industry

One of over 150 oral history recordings made as part of the Britain’s Railways All Change (BRAC) archive project. BRAC was set-up to cover gaps in documenting the railway privatisation process in the United Kingdom, between 1994 and 1997, when the government-owned British Rail was dismantled into over 100 privately-owned companies. The interviews capture the recollections of people involved in the planning and implementation of the privatisation process, the management of change and running the railway during privatisation.