Andy Burnham's transport commissioner received £600,000 payout weeks before starting new role

The Mayor’s new Transport Commissioner banked more than £600,000 in taxpayer money after leaving Transport for London - before joining Greater Manchester months later. Vernon Everitt, who has vowed to ‘write the next chapter’ of the region’s transport story, was previously a director at TfL.

Mr Everitt, who had worked for TfL for 14 years, received £352,697 for loss of office, as well as a salary of £200,294 and a £71,180 delayed bonus for the previous year. It’s understood to be the biggest annual remuneration ever paid by TfL. He left the board in January as part of cost-saving measures, only to take up his position in Greater Manchester in May.

The figures, featured in TfL's draft Remuneration Report and Statement of Accounts for the year ended March 31, 2022, were considered at TfL’s Audit and Assurance Committee meeting on June 6. The Manchester Evening News asked the Mayor's office exactly when they began talking to Mr Everitt about his new role, and for his current salary.

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A spokesman said Mr Everitt had left the employment of TfL in January 2022, before any conversation began about him taking up his Commissioner role, which started on April 25 2022. A GMCA Resources Committee report shows that Mr Everitt is contracted to work three days a week on a rate of £650 per day, up until October 25 2023, with costs met from the Mayor's Transport budget.

If Mr Everitt works three days in each of those 78 weeks, he will earn £152,000. This doesn't account for possible holidays.

When the Manchester Evening News spoke to Mr Everitt earlier this month, he said he would focus on integrating the