The boss of transport giant FirstGroup nearly doubled his pay packet as profits at the firm soared.
The Aberdeen company’s latest annual accounts reveal chief executive Tim O’Toole’s salary, bonus and benefits hit £1.986million in the last financial year.
The increase was against a backdrop of a 23% rise in underlying profits to £111.9million.
But last night it was branded “outrageous” by a union chief, and a north-east politician said it underlined the growing gap between the pay rises offered to ordinary workers and those given to top management.
Mr O’Toole earned nearly £2million in the year to March 31, 2014, compared with £1.068million in the previous 12 months.
Tommy Campbell, regional organiser for Unite trade union, said: “It is an absolutely outrageous increase, and we oppose fat-cat salaries of this nature.
“No one can justify a wage increase of this level and, if it is good enough for Mr O’Toole, then it should be good enough for all the workers at First.
“We are currently in negotiations with the bus company for better pay and conditions, and will certainly be referring to this during the course of our discussions.”
North-east Labour MSP Richard Baker said: “Clearly an increase in salary like this is way beyond what most of First’s employees will get, and leads to the matter of the gap between executives’ earnings, and that of other staff.
“I do not dispute that Mr O’Toole has a difficult job, but questions must be asked regarding the number of disputes involving First staff, and the number of times the company has tried to change the working conditions of its staff.
“If they are going to remunerate certain staff members at executive level, many people will be saying that all staff should receive similar increases.”
Mr O’Toole succeeded Sir Moir Lockhead as chief executive in 2010, and turned down a bonus worth 70% of his salary in 2012-13.
But in the latest period, he picked up a performance-related top-up worth £600,000.
Salary was unchanged from the year before at £846,000, while Mr O’Toole also received £324,000 from the sale of shares given to him for free in an executive retention plan.
In addition, he received pension-related benefits worth £179,000, a £12,000 car allowance, £16,447 for private medical insurance and a £9,000 reimbursement for advisory fees.
FirstGroup remuneration committee chairman, David Begg, said: “With the challenges ahead, it is as important as ever to ensure that we have in place the highest quality management motivated to deliver outstanding performance.
“However, we strongly support the view that failure to deliver should not be rewarded.
“Remuneration practice has been restrained over the most recent difficult trading years, with no pay increases for executive directors in 2013-14. There will again be no pay increases for executive directors in the coming year.”
Mr Begg said FirstGroup’s executive pay packages allowed its top bosses to “share in the long-term success of the group without delivering excessive benefits or encouraging short-term measures or excessive risk-taking”.
He added: “The committee has actively engaged with certain major shareholders on remuneration issues, including consulting on LTIP (long-term incentive plan) performance measures and the remuneration policy.”
Group finance director Chris Surch, who joined the company in September 2012, received a pay package worth a total of £807,000 in 2013-14. The figure was up from £727,000 in 2012-13.