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£3k-a-day Tube chief admits: I'm an alcoholic
By David Cohen, Evening Standard Last updated at 12:51pm on 28.03.07
Bob Kiley has admitted having a drink problem and says he doesn't do much for his money
The man brought in by Ken Livingstone to transform London's transport system admits today that he is 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.
Reader views (15)
James from London needs to lighten up. He and David Gunn saved the New York City subway, bus and commuter rail systems from total callapse. Its been twenty years in May with no grafitti on the entire NYC subway system, 6,000 subway cars and the grafitti just was a representation of the massive rebuilding effort. The reason it worked was Governor Cuomo and Mayor Koch gave Kiley his marching orders and he and Gunn could execute. You need the goals, clear goals and political support. I know Kiley will get the job done, what tools did you give him?
- Bobp Previdi, phila pa usa
What's the problem? You'd have to be an idiot not to accept the job that he has. The real idiot is the guy who gave it to him!
- Ian, Vancouver, Canada
Goshdarnit, I'm an American living in London and this guy makes feel proud all over.
God Bless You Bob Kiley.
- Kevin_M, London
What does this man want, our sympathy? He's a leech and an American one at that - he hadn't even contributed to the British tax system before he got here. Livingstone should have realised this guy would have had little effect on the tube with the current complex infrastrastructure. Sort out the PPP, the unions, before bringing in an overhyped, overpaid waste of space. Also, why is no-one held accountable for such wastage?
- James, London, UK
Could somebody please explain why Mr Kiley is still being employed at massive cost to the taxpayer?
If he is ill then he should be receiving treatment.
Public transport in London has become significantly worse since 2000 - if the management are on the bottle in the afternoon that is the reason for the decline.
- Betty Shaw, Marylebone
I'll take his job for half the salary!
- R M, London, UK
"Nice to see a politician with a sense of decency and honesty" - Jamie, what on earth are you talking about? I fail to see what is honest or decent about accepting a huge salary paid for by the taxpayer and doing very little for it. Kiley is not a politician, he's an official; most officials (and politicians, for that matter) work very hard, for a fraction of the money Kiley is paid. His admission is startlingly frank, but that doesn't in any way make him admirable - he's a disgrace to public service.
- Tom, London
Would it be pertinent to ask how this man sleeps at night? I guess the answer is in a £3K a day fuelled drunked stupor on a big pile of our cash. Sweet work if you can get it, but at least he's not actually driving the trains.
- Squiz, Islington
What a bald faced cheek this man has to do this interview, say the things he has said and still take the money?!
It must have been pretty clear he had a booze problem when he was hired.
Mind you if this interview was conducted after he cracked open the vodka all is forgiven.
- Caroline, London
I would suggest that Gordon Brown has frustrated this man's ability to have a real impact on the tube network; all Londoners have been stitched up privatisation of the maintenance contracts. I don't believe even a drunk Kiley would have signed up to such a "DUFF" deal.
- Mike Melbourne, Bedford
"It's alcohol actually" = water. As a kid in my secondary school chemistry class I realized, no doubt like many other bored kids, that if "n" was equated to zero (re: the empirical formula, CnH(2n+1)OH) for the "alcohol series", e.g., when n = 1 we have methanol (CH3OH), n = 2 we have ethanol, C2H5OH), so if n = 0 we would have water H2O. Then that got me thinking - voila - when alcohol makes us dizzy ... because water has the equivalent of two hydroxyl groups, and the mono-hydroxyl group alcohols have one - so the hydrogen bond pattern in the aqueous environment in the cells and blood have a different hydrogen bond pattern resulting in different solvated proteins in someone who has been "drinking" the real stuff. Lost you yet? Have a drink (preferably pure orange juice).
- Dr. Christopher Wood, Arlington, USA
Nice to see a politician with a sense of decency and honesty. How many other politicos would have the front to say they don't earn their money? Not many, judging by the flurry of 'aye' votes whenever there's a debate for increasing MPs pay in the commons.
Maybe MPs should take up drinking, too. In vino veritas.
- Jamie, London
Kiley, have the decency to step down and stop bleeding some very poor Londoners dry. To my fellow Londoners, boot Livingstone out at the next election - he is responsible for this. You council tax money is wasted on Kiley and I suspect many of your find it hard to pay your council tax.
- Anthony, London, W2
No comment regarding the alcohol - that's his business as long as he does his job BUT his other comments do make me think that this is another great waste of public funds! How does 'good old Ken' justify this waste of money?
- Mm, Hackney
As I understand it, since he was first employed by Ken he hasn't done an awful lot, but most of that is caused by ridiculous amounts of red tape and the unions.
- Trevor Roll, London
