Vice-chancellor took 58 first-class trips

Britain’s highest paid vice-chancellor claimed 58 first-class train journeys in just over a year, it has emerged.

Dame Glynis Breakwell, who earns a £471,000 salary, claimed 58 first-class train journeys and three first-class flights between August 2016 and November 2017. Although her employer, the University of Bath, states all staff must use the “cheapest possible method of travel”, it confirmed that Dame Glynis’s contract states she may travel first class if that is more efficient.

In August, Andrew Murrison, Tory MP for South West Wiltshire, resigned from the Court of Bath University in protest over the vice chancellor’s pay.

Three more MPS followed suit before Dame Glynis announced last November that she would leave the post at the end of the academic year.

A university spokesman said: “Journeys by train to or from Guildford relate to travel by the vice-chancellor for university business from her residence in Guildford. These options reduced the need for overnight and other associated costs.”