Taxpayers paid rent for ScotRail boss Phil Verster’s Edinburgh flat for a year

THE £260,000-a-year boss of Scotland’s under-fire railways got a free flat paid for by the taxpayer for a year, The Sunday Post can reveal.

Controversial ScotRail boss Phil Verster was given £17,000 to pay the rent on a £400,000 apartment in one of Edinburgh’s most desirable areas.

Angry passengers were last week hit with yet more inflation-busting fare increases and have endured months of chaos and cancellations on the country’s creaking rail network.

But the good times have kept coming for Mr Verster, who banked the rental payments as part of a £20,000 relocation package which also included free furniture removal and trips back to his old home in York.

Meanwhile, we can reveal managing director Mr Verster’s generous salary package also includes free private healthcare for him and his family and a £10,000 car allowance.

And that’s in addition to the hefty pay rise this newspaper revealed last year which has taken his basic salary into the £260,000-£265,000 band.

On top of all this, Mr Verster also banked a bonus for his work in 2015/16.

Mick Hogg, Scottish Organiser for the RMT rail union, said: “The travelling public will be astonished to hear about this level of perks for the managing director when the service passengers are getting is so poor.

“The public are paying for these fat-cat wages and perks – but people like Mr Verster who are getting them aren’t in any way accountable to the public.

“And that just cannot be right.

“This level of remuneration really is a scandal, especially when you think how wages for most people in most walks of life are stagnant or falling.

“What people will want to know is why does Mr Verster need to have private health care paid for him and his family? If that’s what he wants, he’s getting paid enough money to pay for it himself.”

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Details released by public body Network Rail under freedom of information laws show Mr Verster claimed £20,465 in relocation expenses after moving from York to take the helm in April 2015.

The ScotRail Alliance, formed of service operator ScotRail and track operator Network Rail, is responsible for running and maintaining the country’s railway network.

Mr Verster is in charge of this and is a Network Rail employee, while the other directors in the Alliance have their wages paid for by Dutch firm Abellio which won the ScotRail franchise.

A total of £3375 was paid to Mr Verster in May 2015 to cover rent and deposit on a plush flat in the Merchiston area of Edinburgh. A further £13,750 was then paid out to cover 10 months’ rent until April last year.

His handsome home is close to the Union Canal, where the 53-year-old has spoken of going to enjoy his hobby of running, and is near to the former home of author JK Rowling.

Mr Verster’s £1645 removal bill was also reimbursed and hundreds of pounds worth of train fares and car hire trips, thought to be to and from Mr Verster’s old home in York, were also on the expenses claim.

After claiming £21,814 in expenses between May 2015 and April last year, Mr Verster hasn’t made a single claim since.

A Scottish Labour spokesman said: “While commuters have to put up with rising prices and falling standards on Scotland’s railways, it seems like the ScotRail boss has delivered a gold-plated deal for himself.

“Passengers are fed up with overcrowded, delayed and expensive trains.

“Instead of spending thousands of pounds on perks, ScotRail should get a grip of its rail services and the Scottish Government should offer a fare freeze for this year instead of hiking prices.”

As well as his salary hike, Mr Verster was one of 12 members of Network Rail’s executive committee who shared a bonus pot of £500,826 in 2015/16.

The amount the South African received has not been disclosed but the maximum bonus for committee members is 20% of salary so he could have banked up to £50,000.

The non-salary benefits enjoyed by Mr Verster include a £10,000 car allowance and private medical cover and annual health check worth £1738.

Relocation deals are commonplace in top jobs in the public sector but Mr Verster’s highly generous deal is more than twice what taxpayers paid, for example, when Sir Peter Housden moved to Scotland from London in 2010 to take up a top civil service post.

Sir Peter’s £10,000 costs covered his solicitor fees for buying and selling homes.

Police Scotland chief constable Phil Gormley, who earns around £212,000 a year, was allowed to stay at Tulliallan Castle – Police Scotland’s training HQ – as part of his “relocation” package.

But that was only for six months.

And elsewhere, judges and sheriffs who need to relocate for work are given interest-free loans – which have to be paid back.

In 2012/13, for example, one sheriff was loaned £128,296, to be paid back over a 12-year period at £1069.13 per month.

A Network Rail spokesman said: “We offer relocation allowances to employees when we ask them to move home to take up a new role.

“The assistance provided to Mr Verster was in line with our standard relocation policies.”