Unbeknownst to me the OpenTTD has been inactive for a long period after being paused on the server-side; the sever has now been unpaused and should be running smoothly again.
I have also taken this opportunity to change a few server settings. Firstly the bribing of town councils has been enabled to allow players to muscle into each other’s territory. Secondly, disasters have been enabled to try and throw a spanner into the works for companies that are having an easy time. Finally, and most notably, a server password has been added to reduce the amount of random players joining only to lock up a company slot with a password and never actually play. The password required to join the server is "freki".