Star date: 1st March 2011 

GMPTE CHIEF EXEC GETS OVER £500,000 WHILE SALFORD PAYS FOR MEDIACITYUK BUS

Salford Council, currently making £40million of cuts, recently had to fork out £220,000 towards a bus for MediaCityUK, while it was revealed yesterday that David Leather, the Chief Exec of GMPTE is being paid over £500,000 a year.

Full story here…

Hard up Salford Council recently agreed to fork out £220,000 for a bus service to MediaCityUK (see here) while the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive (GMPTE) has a chief executive being paid around £540,000 a year, according to a report in the Daily Telegraph yesterday (see here).

Information that the Salford Star received almost six months ago claimed that the GMPTE Chief Executive, David Leather, was in receipt of £400,000 while the consultants he is seconded from, Ernst and Young, received a further £300,000, making a total of £700,000.

As all the figures were secret at the time, Salford Star couldn't prove the allegations so never printed them. But yesterday, GMPTE was forced to publish all its spending over £500 and the figures reveal that Ernst and Young was paid £1.5million by GMPTE for services, including £199,936 for David Leather, who will also be in receipt of payments from Ernst and Young. The Daily Telegraph claimed this produced a total salary of £45,000 a month or £540,000 a year.

Not only is the lack of past transparency at GMPTE scandalous, the level of pay to its senior executives is horrifying – especially when the bus services in certain parts of Salford are almost non-existent. And Salford taxpayers are expected to fork out £220,000 for a bus to MediaCityUK from The Crescent – while MediaCityUK is still inaccessible from many parts of Salford.

Graphic by Jamie Reid

* A personal story...by Alan Wise

My Auntie, one of the last of the kinder children, lived in Agecroft. Though an old frail lady she was dependent on the bus. The kerb near her house was high with a gap, and all the buses have the facility to drop down, lower themselves to help old people and stop them leaping off and tripping. But the drivers can't be bothered and the passengers alighting behind push you off. Her bus didnt `drop down low' to let her off. The pasengers behind pushed her and she was forced to  jump. She broke her bones and this eventually cost her her life. No compensation or even apology came from the GMPTE who explained it's `the driver's responsibility...They don't always have time to lower the bus'... So a lovely old human being ended her days with a broken leg and bones.

True Story. Name of Person: Erica Shotland. Now dead.