Central line chiefs to get £1,000 holidays

Managers who coped with the London Underground Central line fiasco caused by the Chancery Lane derailment have been given £1,000-a-time holidays in recognition for their "Herculean" work.

The decision to award 39 staff, mostly senior and middle-ranking managers, with passenger and taxpayerfunded holidays sparked disbelief from the unions and passenger watchdog.

Bobby Law, London region secretary of the RMT, largest of the Tube unions, branded the awards as "obscene and elitist". He said: "This is a smack in the face for people who were coping with the derailment and its effects.

"The driver of the derailed train and an off-duty station supervisor, both of whom have been praised for their actions in getting people out of the crashed carriages, only received awards of £250 each."

Cynthia Hay of the passenger pressure group Capital Transport said: "Commuters will be fuming. Many still cannot get ticket refunds for the time the line was closed down.

" Nobody is criticising awards to staff who were there during the emergency. But administrative staff should accept the extra work they had to do as part of their duties."

The Chancery Lane crash on 25 January, which injured 32 passengers, happened when a half-ton, under-carriage motor broke free, derailing the last four cars. The line, one of the busiest on the system and used by 670,000 people a day, was shut completely. So too was the Waterloo & City line which uses the same stock.

Then it was revealed there had been three earlier incidents of motors breaking free.

The line was closed completely for 11 weeks while the 75-strong train fleet was modified to secure the motors. But it was 18 weeks before the line was fully operational, and even now trains are subject to speed limits.

The shutdown caused months of travel chaos for commuters and cost London businesses hundreds of millions-of pounds in lost staff time and income.

The new row coincides with the publication of the final report into the derailment.

The damning report, as revealed by the Evening Standard last month, concludes there was a catalogue of failings by management in not reacting quickly when problems with the motors were realised two years ago.

But an LU spokesman said: "The awards are an acknowledgement of the Herculean efforts of staff. They offered the best service they could under the circumstances."