Community Rail bosses splashed £10,000-a-week on air fares final yr because it labored out cheaper than getting the prepare.
Figures confirmed that workers on the public physique – which owns a lot of the UK’s railway community – purchased 985 airplane tickets for flights throughout the UK.
They purchased a additional 1,622 for worldwide journeys, Freedom of Info information has revealed.
Many of those home journeys might have simply been executed by rail – outraging inexperienced campaigners who identified that getting the prepare is way extra environmentally-friendly.
Of the inner flights, 72 had been between Birmingham and Glasgow which is served by a direct prepare line with one-way tickets costing as much as £206.
And among the many firm’s workers, high-flying director Michelle Handforth – who pockets an annual wage of £330,000 – expensed £8,000 price of home flights.
Mike Childs, from Pals of the Earth, advised The Solar: “It’s a sorry indictment of the state of rail journey within the UK when business bosses are selecting to fly.”
The information emerged as rail commuters battle with rising charges and must take care of companies that are continuously disrupted by industrial motion.
In March, fares noticed their largest hike in a decade again once they elevated by 5.9 per cent, figures obtained by The Solar confirmed.
Over current months RMT staff have been strolling out in a dispute over pay and situations
(PA)
In the meantime, unions together with the RMT and Aslef have introduced a lot of the rail community to a standstill over current months once they walked out as a part of a continued dispute with their employers over pay and situations.
All this got here as Community Rail just lately blamed strikes and inflation for it recording a £1.1bn loss final yr.
The physique additionally noticed its internet debt develop to £59.1 billion from £56.1 billion over the identical interval as a consequence.
A Community Rail spokesperson advised The Impartial that it’ll “at all times encourage our individuals to journey by rail, however flying is permitted the place components like time constraints are thought of”.
Regardless of this, they mentioned that “some 94 per cent of our enterprise journey is by rail”.
The spokesperson added: “We’re competing for high individuals in a robust world market.
“As a public physique, with comprehensible restrictions on wage and rewards in comparison with the non-public sector, we have now to be modern and versatile with a view to safe the companies of nice individuals from throughout the internationally aggressive market, as we have now executed right here.”
