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Transport chief gets £115,000 bonus for first year in charge
Ross Lydall, Evening Standard18 Sep 2007
London's transport commissioner received a six-figure bonus in his first year in charge of the Tube and buses.
Peter Hendy was awarded £115,200 on top of his £320,000 salary as head of Transport for London. However, this was substantially less than the £160,000 maximum annual bonus he could have earned
It was also well below the amount TfL paid to Mr Hendy's predecessor, Bob Kiley. He twice received £275,000 and took home more than £1 million in bonuses in his five years as the Mayor's most senior transport adviser.
The size of Mr Hendy's bonus was determined in July by Mayor Ken Livingstone and two fellow TfL board members after judging his performance against five key criteria.
These were TfL's financial improvement, operational improvement, customer satisfaction, reduction in journey times and delivery of TfL's £10 billion investment programme.
Today's figures, released to the London Assembly Liberal Democrats under the Freedom of Information Act, follow the disclosure in TfL's annual accounts that Mr Hendy received a total package worth in excess of £550,000 in the 2006/7 financial year. This was made up of his basic salary - he began work as TfL commissioner in February last year - pension and a bonus in lieu for his previous job as head of TfL's surface transport division.
TfL pointed to the continued increase in bus and Tube passenger numbers, with a record one billion using the Underground in the year to April - more than four million on some days.
It successfully hosted the start of the Tour de France and work is progressing to introduce a low emission zone and a £25 congestion charge for gas-guzzlers.
But critics note the collapse of Tube maintenance firm Metronet - and the fear that TfL will never be able to recoup almost £900 million in loans it is making available to Metronet's administrator to keep the network running. Mr Hendy attracted personal controversy when he flew to Caracas to advise the Venezuelan government on how to solve traffic congestion on the day Metronet went into meltdown.
Geoff Pope, Lib-Dem transport spokesman on the Assembly, said: "With congestion in central London on the rise, bus driver complaints up and a strike that paralysed the capital for two days, Londoners will be right to ask what bang they get for TfL's buck.
"Met Commissioner Sir Ian Blair turned down his bonus last year when the Metropolitan Police performed badly. Until Londoners' experience of getting around the capital improves, Peter Hendy should think about doing the same."
A TfL spokesman said: "TfL is building a world-class transport system for a world-class city. The salary of the commissioner will reflect the importance and success of that work. If we need to pay competitive salaries to secure people with the talent and experience of Peter Hendy we will do so."
The figures come as it emerged that 107 staff at the London Development Agency - the Mayor's regeneration body that has been buying up land in the East End to prepare for the 2012 Olympics - now earn in excess of £50,000.
