Beleaguered British rail operator Railtrack was at the centre of a fresh storm today when it emerged that former chief executive Mr Gerald Corbett received a £1 million sterling pay-off despite a record tarnished by a succession of deadly rail crashes.
Three days after a public inquiry into a 1999 crash damned Railtrack for its "lamentable failure" over safety, the railway group's annual accounts showed that Mr Corbett's 'golden goodbye' amounted to £1.4 million sterling (euro 2.3).
Mr Corbett, who resigned as chief executive last November one month after another fatal crash at Hatfield north of London, was given £444,000 compensation for loss of office plus a one-off lump sum pension payment of £912,992 before tax.
Mr Corbett, who led Railtrack for three years, still receives a pension from the group.
The pay-off angered rail unions and passenger groups just days after a public inquiry led by Lord Cullen rebuked the rail operator for failings that caused the 1999 Paddington crash in which 31 people were killed.
In particular, Railtrack stood accused of failing to deal with a notorious signal that was difficult to see.
"This farewell package for Mr Corbett would have been obscene at the best of times, but in the week of publication of Lord Cullen's report it is grotesque," said Mr Mick Rix, general secretary of train drivers' union Aslef.
"A tiny fraction of his ill-gotten gains spent on re-siting signal 109 would have saved 31 lives," he said. "Decency demands that Mr Corbett return this pay off to Railtrack immediately."
AFP