THE West Somerset Railway Association has announced it plans to expel four members in the ongoing bitter battle over the future of the organisation set up to support the heritage line.

The four – Ken Davidge, Jeff Price, Robin White and Paul Whitehouse – are all members of the splinter Reform Group, which believes the WSRA has become increasingly isolated from working members and the West Somerset Railway plc, which operates the Minehead to Bishops Lydeard railway.

Tensions between rival factions within the organisation have continued to build since the WSRA made a controversial and subsequently aborted bid to buy the freehold of the heritage line last year.

Ms White told the Free Press this week that she and the other three members had received a letter saying the decision to terminate their membership had been taken at a trustees' meeting last Thursday.

She claimed the attempted termination was in breach of the organisation's articles of association which required 28 days' notice of alleged 'offences' and the opportunity for representations to be considered before any decision was taken.

"I have been a member of the association for 30 years and was a past chairman," said Ms White.

"Fortunately the trustees' failure to follow the rules means that these decisions are legally ineffective.

"It is very sad. The trustees' actions are becoming more bizarre by the day and the 'disconnect' between them and the members all the more marked."

Ms White said the Reform Group had secured the support of 400 WSRA members to demand that an extraordinary general meeting be held – the second this year – calling for the removal of all six 'active' trustees, including chairman Peter Chidzey and vice-chairman David Williams.

The move follows the rejection of a 'peace offer' by the Reform Group which Ms White said would have seen a balance of old and new trustees on the board.

However, a spokesman for the trustees said the "so-called peace offer" involved the resignation of two trustees whom the Reform Group had failed to unseat at the earlier extraordinary general meeting and the addition to the board of candidates favourable to Ms White's point of view rather than going through a democratic election process.

The spokesman said the action would have also required the trustees to block the nomination of another properly proposed and eligible candidate for the board of whom Ms White did not approve, which they could not have done even if they had wished to.

"The board cannot operate on the basis of demands made in that fashion, hence the offer was rejected," said the spokesman.

He said the decision to terminate the membership of the four was "a deeply disappointing" course of action to take and, although not unprecedented, very unusual.

"It is one we have delayed for perhaps too long in the hope that common sense would prevail."

The spokesman said all were welcome to their own views but that did not entitle any member to conduct trials by social media, canvas passengers on the railway and attempt to publicly damage the reputation of the WSRA.

"The four members concerned have elevated the differences of opinion within the charity to the point where the trustees believe their actions are no longer conducive to the orderly conduct of the WSRA.

"This action has not been taken simply because the individuals concerned disagree with the policies of the trustees – they are quite entitled to hold opposing views to the board.

"However, all four have made very public statements regarding the integrity of the trustees and their intentions.

"There has to come a point when this behaviour is no longer considered acceptable in the best interests of the charity and that point has now been reached.

"We have to remember that we are a heritage railway and not a political organisation.

"We need to focus on our heritage and educational objectives and not on the relentless personality politics in which these members have for too long been indulging."

The spokesman insisted that the procedure being followed for the removal of members was that laid down in the WSRA articles and those concerned had until July 6 to make any representations.

He said the trustees had acted quickly following the request of the membership at the earlier extraordinary general meeting to hold a review into the aims and objectives of the WSRA and had appointed an experienced independent chairman who would be forming a review panel within the next few days.