Union boss hits out after attack on free travel for Merseytravel staff

Jun 27 2008 by Liam Murphy, Liverpool Daily Post

A UNION leader has hit out over criticism that hundreds of its members receive free travel across Merseyside worth more than £1,000 each.

Yesterday, the Daily Post reveal-ed that Merseytravel gives around 700 of its staff tickets to travel on buses, trains and ferries.

It followed the revelations last week that the passenger transport authority charged emergency services more than £60,000 in tunnel tolls last year.

But last night Steve Cook, of Merseytravel Unison Branch, said his members “sacrifice part of their salary” for the travel passes.

Merseytravel confirmed it prov-ides around 700 of its 970 staff with all-zone “Trio” tickets which allows them free use of all buses, trains and ferries in the region – worth more than £1,000 a year.

Their permanent partners are also provided with off-peak tickets worth more than £300 a year. An all-zone Trio ticket would cost £1,005 per year, while an off-peak ticket would cost £343.

For staff who are not counted as working on the public transport network and so do not qualify for the Trio tickets, around 300 em-ployees are given 50 free trips through the tunnel a year, worth some £21,000 a year in total.

Cllr Lesley Rennie, a member of the fire authority, said she would again be pushing for Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service to in-crease the pressure on Mersey-travel to offer concessions to emergency services.

She said: “If Merseytravel can allow these concessions for their staff, then I don’t seen why they can’t do the same for emergency services.”

Terms for Merseytravel jobs describe the free travel in public transport for their employees as “fringe benefits”.

But Mr Cook said the free travel dates back to 1978, a period of high inflation, when employees were offered the passes in lieu of higher salaries.

He said: “It gets people using public transport, gets senior people out of their cars and cre-ates a good impression with people using public transport.”

Mr Cook said: “The Inland Revenue recognised that it is a clear benefit to the public.”

He said equivalent jobs in other organisations or the private sec-tor would attract higher salaries. The travel passes are intended to help provide compensation.

He said: “Our members use and champion the public service and they pay for the use of that public service out of their own salaries.”

A Merseytravel spokesman said free travel was widely offered by organisations across the country and had the advantage of encour-aging staff to use public transport and also provided useful feedback on buses, trains and ferries.

liammurphy