It's really a poor state of affairs. There are 13 units sitting in depots out of miles, and the railway in general is putting its fingers in its ears and shouting lalala. If this is directly caused by the late delivery if the 701s, surely Bombardier should be paying for the overhauls of the 455s and 456s. If the delays to the 701s are caused by SWR (a debate on this is for elsewhere) then SWR should be paying for overhauls. One thing is for certain-- somebody should be paying. Doing nothing is unacceptable.
If South Eastern were so desperately short of stock they needed all the 707s imminently, why did they send a large handful of 465s in to store?
There are of course nuances in all this, but in the eyes of the public, there is stock in sidings, and people are getting left behind at stations.