ScotRail boss pockets pay rise of up to £33,000 plus bonus despite poor service complaints

THE man in charge of Scotland’s crisis-hit rail network has pocketed a massive pay rise – despite presiding over misery for passengers.

ScotRail chief executive Phil Verster is now collecting a basic annual wage of £265,000 a year, we can reveal.

And that means his salary has gone up by at least £22,500 this year – and the increase may be as high as £33,000.

The inflation-busting 10% pay rise comes despite widespread outrage over the shocking performance of train services north of the border.

Adding to Mr Verster’s basic salary, the 53-year-old South African has even picked up a “performance” bonus, a revelation described by rail unions and politicians last night as “totally unacceptable”.

The news comes in the week that thousands of rail passengers across Scotland were caught in hours of chaos after a single train breakdown outside Edinburgh’s Waverley station on Thursday.

Controversial Mr Verster is boss of privately-owned Abellio in Scotland – but he is also boss of Network Rail, the publicly-owned body in charge of train tracks and signals.

And it is Network Rail which pays his generous salary and through which he is entitled to a performance bonus of up to £130,000 a year.

Network Rail refused yesterday to say what exactly Mr Verster got under its bonus scheme for the 12 months ending in April this year.

Commuters queue outside Glasgow's Queen Street railway station during electrification work which has closed the upper concourse and platforms (Daily Record) — Commuters queue outside Glasgow’s Queen Street railway station during electrification work which has closed the upper concourse and platforms (Daily Record)

But senior rail sources have confirmed to the Sunday Post that the scheme has paid out – potentially adding thousands to ScotRail Alliance managing director Mr Verster’s handsome pay package.

Official Network Rail documents show that as of August this year, Mr Verster’s salary was in the pay band £260,000-£265,000.

Yet Network Rail papers from just four months earlier list his salary as in the range of £232,000-£237,500.

Mick Hogg, Scottish organiser for the RMT rail union, said: “We’ve got trains cancelled left, right and centre and we’ve got passengers up in arms.

“There’s not enough rolling stock, trains are overcrowded and the fares are going up and up.

“It’s just totally unacceptable for the man in charge to be getting a £30,000 pay rise – and a bonus into the bargain. Passengers will be appalled to hear this.”

Scottish Conservative chief whip John Lamont said: “Long-suffering ScotRail passengers will barely be able to believe that the managing director has been given a pay rise.

“It sends out totally the wrong message at a time when the service has clearly slipped well below the level that the public would rightly expect.

“It’s hard to believe anyone could get a bonus given what’s happened with the trains in Scotland.

“Taxpayers won’t be happy that so much money has been paid out for such a poor service in return.”

Mr Verster’s pay rise and bonus comes despite Abellio ScotRail hitting performance targets in just two of the four quarters in 2015/16 – its first full year of running the franchise.

Previous operator First hit the targets in three out of four quarters in three of the last four years it operated.

Meanwhile, official ScotRail data for the period from October 16 to November 12 shows that only 86% of trains arrived within five minutes of their due time – a 4.3% drop from the previous four weeks.

The “moving annual average” figures up to November 12 – which are the official ones used to calculate if ScotRail has hit its target – stood at 89.8%.

This is up 0.3% from the previous month but still short of the 91.1% target written into the franchise agreement.

SNP minsters have warned Abellio that they will pull the plug on the franchise deal if punctuality performance does not improve.

And there is mounting pressure on First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to cancel the contract of Dutch firm Abellio, which has run ScotRail since April last year.

Scottish Labour’s transport spokesman Neil Bibby said: “Passengers are fed up with the shoddy service they are receiving from ScotRail.

“Commuters will be shocked to learn hundreds more trains have been late and performance has plummeted since the improvement plan was presented.”

This week SNP Transport Minister Humza Yousaf had two rail unions, ASLEF and the TSSA, call for him to consider quitting. But he has insisted he is staying on.

Scotland Transport Minister Humza Yousaf (C Austin/Sunday Post)

Verster’s salary makes him the highest-paid public sector boss in Scotland.

A spokesman for Network Rail defended the pay rise and said the increase was due to a promotion earlier this year which means Mr Vester now reports directly to Network Rail chief executive Mark Carne.

The spokesman said: “Phil’s salary has been increased this year to reflect his promotion to managing director of Network Rail Scotland. Phil is also the managing director of the ScotRail Alliance.”

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