Rage at train boss bonuses as passengers’ fares rocket

MPs today hit out at railway bosses’ bonuses amid growing anger over spiralling fares.

Rail chiefs could be awarded huge share packages on top of their wages despite inflation-busting average fare rises of 4.2 per cent.

FirstGroup, which runs the First Great Western rail franchise, froze executive pay in June and boss Tim O’Toole forfeited his bonus.

But Mr O’Toole stands to pick up share awards in 2013 worth nearly £1 million based on current share prices, according to the Daily Mail.

Mr O’Toole could be in line for 224,996 shares from previous years’ bonus schemes worth £472,000 in April. He could also get £451,000 worth of shares on November 1 as a loyalty bonus for staying in his job for two years.

The award comes on top of an £846,000 basic salary, a £134,000 top-up instead of a pension contribution and allowances of £75,000, including £12,000 for a company car and £15,555 for private medical insurance. National Express boss Dean Finch could be in line for 454,000 shares worth £953,000 in March on top of his £550,000 basic salary. Mr Finch also receives a cash-and-shares bonus of £687,000, a cash top-up instead of pension contribution worth £192,000 and benefits worth £25,000.

Share awards are based on performance, so actual payouts could prove to be lower or even nothing.

Shadow transport secretary Maria Eagle said: “Passengers will rightly be outraged at the mega pay, bonus and share packages at a time when hard-pressed commuters are seeing their fares rise by as much as nine per cent every year.”

Thousands of rail travellers suffered delays today due to a train break-down, a signal failure, engineering work and emergency repairs. A broken down train caused delays of up to 45 minutes on the Southern Brighton to Victoria line and a signal failure at Crystal Palace caused more delays for Southern. Engineering works disrupted some Southeastern and First Capital Connect services.