A TOP rail boss who works from home on a £300,000-a-year salary flies hundreds of miles to visit stations — and puts it on expenses.
Michelle Handforth, who lives in Scotland, is in charge of Paddington station in central London.
Sites in Reading, Bristol and across Wales also fall under her control.
She took 72 flights in the last financial year — costing her employer Network Rail almost £10,000.
Ms Handforth, 60, who was previously boss of Aberdeen Harbour Board, was hired by Network Rail as a managing director in July 2021.
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It was written into her contract she would be allowed to work from home, with travel and accommodation expenses covered “where required”.
The quango in charge of the nation’s railways says it agreed to the deal because it has to be “innovative and flexible in order to secure the services of great people”.
But in its recently published annual report, it admits the firm missed passenger satisfaction targets in her area — with low scores being handed out for over-crowding, cleanliness and station environment.
Among Ms Handforth’s flights last year were two £536 return trips by Loganair from Aberdeen to Bristol.
Last year, Network Rail spent a total of £188,006 on UK domestic flights and another £315,026 on international plane trips.
Tory MP Jonathan Gullis said: “What an embarrassing state of affairs with railway executives using flights to visit their own stations, and paid an extortionate salary at a time when trains aren’t reliable and not value for money.”
