Rail chiefs have been pocketing huge bonuses and pay rises despite failing to enforce new laws to minimise the impact of strikes.
None of the 18 operators hit by nine days of walkouts by train drivers from today is implementing the requirement to provide at least 40 per cent of normal services.
It means the industrial action, which includes an overtime ban, will cause yet more misery for passengers.
Tory MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith accused rail bosses of ‘rank cowardice’, saying: ‘If the law is there, then you use it. All the public want is a sense of what the minimum service will be – not leaving it in the hands of the unions to decide.’
Executives at private rail firms enjoyed massive payouts according to a Mail audit that found:
- Annual rises in total pay and perks of 61 per cent for the highest-paid executive at Arriva and 35 per cent for the top boss at former operator Abellio UK;
- Bonuses of £1.3million were shared by FirstGroup’s top executives Graham Sutherland and Ryan Mangold last year, and a £540,000 bonus was paid to then chief executive of Go-Ahead, Christian Schreyer, in 2022;
- The Chinese and German governments could have benefited from tens of millions of pounds in profits at franchises run by transport firms they co-own. MTR, co-owned by the Hong Kong government, effectively controlled by Beijing – made £70million in six years.
Rail chiefs have been pocketing huge bonuses and pay rises despite failing to enforce new laws to minimise the impact of strikes
Tory MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith (pictured) accused rail bosses of ‘rank cowardice’
The drivers’ union Aslef has called the industrial action as part of a pay dispute, despite its members earning basic average salaries of nearly £60,000.
Passengers have been warned of disruption from a rolling programme of walkouts from tomorrow, in addition to a nine-day overtime ban. There will be one-day strikes across 18 different train operating companies between tomorrow and February 5, as well as an overtime ban across all train companies that may lead to short-notice cancellations.
Passengers have been urged to check before they travel as there will be changes to services across large parts of the network, with some train operators not running any services.
The Government passed legislation in November allowing operators to insist on a minimum level of service during strikes.
The only firm that tried to enforce this, taxpayer-owned LNER, backed down after Aslef threatened five more days of strikes. One insider said: ‘Bosses are reluctant to take the unions on, but they need to face them down.’
Labour says it will repeal the minimum service levels law within 100 days of taking power.
Tory MP Greg Smith, a member of the Commons transport committee, said: ‘The public will be raising an eyebrow at the spectre of bosses taking large rewards whilst not meeting their legal duty to maintain service levels.
‘The Government has to exert whatever pressure it can to ensure bosses are unable to be paid enormous salaries and bonuses until they earn them by delivering the service customers expect and the law says they must provide.’
The Mail found that Arriva, a subsidiary of the German state rail operator Deutsche Bahn, which runs Chiltern, CrossCountry, Grand Central and London Overground – gave its highest-paid executive £1,086,342 in pay and perks last year, a 61 per cent rise. Its boss Mike Cooper, 60, lives with his wife Sacha in a £2million house in Buckinghamshire.
There was a 54 per cent increase in overall directors’ pay at Arriva after bonuses were revived post-pandemic.
However its CrossCountry franchise, which recorded profits totalling £14.3million in 2021 and 2022, has still not reinstated the full pre-Covid time-table and suffers overcrowding.
Bonuses of £1.3million were shared by FirstGroup’s top executives Graham Sutherland and Ryan Mangold last year, and a £540,000 bonus was paid to then chief executive of Go-Ahead, Christian Schreyer (pictured), in 2022
Train drivers from the Aslef union on the picket line at Euston station in London
The Government passed legislation in November allowing operators to insist on a minimum level of service during strikes
FirstGroup – owner of Great Western Railway, Lumo, Hull Trains, plus a 70 per cent stake in South Western Railway and Avanti West Coast – awarded its top executives £1.3million in bonuses in 2022/23, weeks before being stripped of the TransPennine Express contract and despite poor performance at Avanti.
A Department for Transport spokesman said: ‘Aslef’s leadership alone are responsible for the disruption expected next week.’
A spokesman for the Rail Delivery Group, which represents operators, said: ‘Minimum service level legislation is one of many useful tools for managing strike disruption, but it is not a silver bullet. Operators’ guiding principle is always to make sure they can offer the best, most reliable services possible for their passengers.’
FirstGroup said the 2022/23 bonuses were driven by ‘strong financial performance’. Arriva said executive pay was linked to operations across Europe.
Go-Ahead said that its executive pay ‘reflects the scope and scale of our business’.