Christmas fiasco boss finally surrenders that bonus

THE Scots rail boss behind the Christmas trains fiasco finally bowed to pressure yesterday and said he would not be taking a lucrative bonus this year.

The decision by Network Rail chief executive Mark Carne came 24 hours after he refused five times to accept that he should forego the windfall of at least £33,750.

Pressure is now mounting on other direc- tors at the rail infrastructure company to waive or hand-back bonuses that have been described as ‘obscene’.

Yesterday, Helensburgh-born Mr Carne drove back from his Christmas break in Cornwall to apologise for the over-running engineering works that closed King’s Cross station and left thousands of passengers stranded or delayed.

Wearing a high-visibility jacket, he said NR had ‘disappointed too many passengers’ and added: ‘I am accountable for the railways and the performance [over Christmas] was not acceptable so I have decided that I should not take my bonus this year.’

He said his decision was ‘personal’, despite receiving a ‘robust’ phone call from Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin at the weekend. On Monday the £675,000-a-year boss, 55, had repeatedly refused to say whether he would give up his bonus during a BBC interview and was accused of ‘wriggling’.

Manuel Cortes of the TSSA rail union welcomed his decision but said it was late, ‘like many of his trains’.