Airport’s ‘ bed boss’ and the £ 61k payout
Flight supremo given“compensation” for job axe
An airport boss who made taxpayers pay for his bed was given £ 61,000 to leave his job.
Ron Smith was given the sum as “compensation for loss of office”.
It came despite the hub hemorrhaging millions during his 15 month tenure.
Mr Smith left in October 2017 after his contract was terminated “by mutual agreement”.
Airport management had initially refused to reveal how much Mr Smith had been awarded.
But it has now been confirmed that he received the sum on his departure.
Mr Smith had previously attracted criticism during his stay in the job when it was revealed he claimed a £ 1,400 luxury bed and a £ 1,000 dining- room suite on relocation expenses.
And his payoff also contributed to the total cost of the directors at TS Prestwick Holdco Ltd rising by 66 per cent.
The numbers have been slammed by Scottish Labour finance spokesman, James Kelly, who said: “These figures will frustrate taxpayers, and it seems clear that Prestwick has been badly mismanaged since the SNP Government bought the airport.
“While workers at the airport were making less than the living wage, bosses were failing on outrageous salaries and pay- offs.
“The SNP Government in the new year simply has to outline a plan to get the airport moving forward again.”
Mr Smith was appointed to the £ 120,000- a- year job at the end of May 2016, having been general operations manager at CHC Helicopters in Aberdeen.
He stated his main aim was to avoid closure of the taxpayer- owned airport bought by the Scottish Government for £ 1 in 2013, and to deliver a “profitable and sustainable business”.
But the airport lost £ 8.6million in the year to March 2017 – and another £ 7.6million to March 2018.
It means the airport’s total loan funding from Transport Scotland stands at £ 38.4million, with another £ 6.5million to be provided this year and £ 6million next year.
Scottish Conservative transport spokesman, Jamie Greene, said: “Whilst Scots rightly want Prestwick Airport to succeed in the long term, that doesn’t mean there is an open chequebook.
“Questions have to be asked over this hefty chunk of public money being spent on a pay- off and an increase in the cost of directors, despite no tangible improvements in its financial position.
“A spokesman for Prestwick Airport said: “The compensation for loss of office arose as the company fulfilled its normal contractual obligations when the former chief executive departed in October 2017.”
A Transport Scotland spokesman said: “Glasgow Prestwick Airport is operated on a commercial basis and at arm’s length from the Scottish Government.”