Motability bosses face probe over ‘grotesque’ pay and cash reserves

THE bosses in charge of Motability face a grilling from MPs over the disabled car firm’s bumper salaries and enormous cash pile next month.

Chairman Neil Johnson is being hauled back from a New Year trip to the United States for the showdown on March 5.

He and £1.7million chief executive Mike Betts will be quizzed over the £2.4billion amassed by the car scheme for the disabled, which the Mail revealed this week.

Their grilling will be conducted by Labour MPs Frank Field – who famously branded BHS tycoon Sir Philip Green the ‘unacceptable face of capitalism’ during a similar inquisition in 2016 – and John Mann, who described the pay at the firm as ‘grotesque’.

The inquiry, conducted jointly by the Treasury select committee and Work and Pensions committee, is one of three probes triggered by a Daily Mail investigation into Motability.

The Government has vowed to claw back the ‘spare’ £2.4billion the firm has stockpiled.

From the Mail, February 6 If returned to taxpayers, it could build seven new hospitals.

The Mail discovered the company has been saving £200million a year from mobility benefits. Motability is a ‘not for profit’ company, yet those who run it earn vast sums. The £1.7million earned last year by 55-year-old Mr Betts – who lives in a £5million riverside apartment overlooking Tower Bridge, banks with Coutts and enjoys Caribbean holidays – is 11 times the Prime Minister’s salary.

David Gilman, 65, the firm’s former secondin-command, was paid £1.1million in 2016, while his successor Matthew HamiltonJames, 44, earned £550,000 last year. Along with chairman Mr Johnson, on £173,000, and director Neill Thomas, earning £64,000, the executives enjoy luxury lifestyles.

Yesterday Mr Field said: ‘It is an affront to the disabled. It is not like these people are running a county police force or Carillion. Cars for the disabled is bread and butter