£3k-a-day Tube chief admits: I'm an alcoholic

Bob Kiley, 72, says he starts drinking vodka in the afternoons, "and once I've lost control it's hard to pull back".

Mr Kiley also admits he does little to earn the £3,200-a-day fee he gets as a consultant for Transport for London.

And Mr Kiley, who quit as transport commissioner last year, speaks for the first time about the car crash 30 years ago in which his wife and two sons died.

"I'm an alcoholic," he says. "But I'm not going to make excuses and say the reason is because I lost my family because, facts are, I always liked a drink. It is true, though, that things have got worse now that I'm not exactly overworked. I've always had high-pressure jobs that kept me extremely busy; now that I've got time on my hands, I start drinking."

But, he said: "I hope it hasn't got to the point where I'm perceived as a drunkard." The American said he is attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings as he faces up to his problem.

He added: "Most people who know me well know I'm alcoholic, so why should I worry about the rest of the world? I'm dealing with it. Physically I'm still in pretty good shape. I'm up every morning at six-ish and out on the road running a couple of miles by 7am."

In a frank interview published in full in today's Evening Standard, he admits that his consultancy fees, which translate to an annual salary of £737,000, are difficult to justify.

He said: "If you ask me what I actually do to earn my consultancy, I'd have to tell you, in all honesty, 'not much'. " Mr Kiley earned £3.9 million during his time as transport commissioner and continues to live rent free in a graceandfavour Belgravia townhouse. He got a £2million severance deal and he was retained as a 90 day a year consultant to the Mayor after he quit.

Mr Kiley spoke out to counter rumours that his alcoholism affected his job. He said: "My drink didn't affect my work while I was fulltime employed, and anyone who says it did is talking bulls**t."

Describing the moment he heard about the crash which killed his family, he said: "There had been a terrible accident on the outskirts of New York. Two or three cars were involved. In one of them was my wife, Patricia - we'd been married 15 years - and my sons, David and Christopher, aged three and five. They died instantly. That's it. In a stroke, my whole family vanished. What I've been through, it's indescribable."

A few years later he met Rona, his current wife. She helped him through the nightmares he was plagued with and they have two sons.