Pay rises at Go-Ahead as service declines

The senior directors of Go-Ahead, the transport group which owns the Thames Trains and Thameslink franchises, received inflation-busting pay rises last year despite a sharp deterioration in the passenger performance of the two rail businesses.

Martin Ballinger, the chief executive of Go-Ahead, received a 17 per cent increase, taking his pay to £274,000, while the deputy chief executive, Chris Moyes, was given a 15 per cent rise to £256,000. The finance director, Ian Butcher, saw his pay increase by 21 per cent to £253,000.

All three executives also received bigger performance bonuses in the year to 30 June than the previous year, despite the decline in the punctuality of Go-Ahead's rail services following the Hatfield derailment in October 2000. Mr Ballinger's bonus rose by £4,000 to £40,000 while those of Mr Moyes and Mr Butcher increased to £37,000 and £35,000 respectively.

Rail performance, in contrast, went into reverse. The number of Thames Trains services arriving on time fell from 89.7 per cent to 82.8 per cent while the figure for Thameslink dropped from 85.9 per cent to 74 per cent. The deterioration in punctuality was reflected in a sharp rise in fines from £600,000 in 2000 to £4.8m for Thameslink and from £2m to £4.9m for Thames Trains.

Stuart Francis, chairman of the Rail Passengers' Council, said: "There needs to be a link between performance and pay. When rail company directors are getting their performance bonuses it is only reasonable to ask when passengers are going to get their improvement."

During the year, Go-Ahead, which also owns bus companies in London, Brighton, Oxford and the North-east, saw off a hostile takeover bid from the French company C3D, which cost the company £6m in defence fees.

Go-Ahead, through its joint venture Govia, also took over the South Central commuter franchise from Connex.