Public forked out £1bn to rail bosses to compensate for losses from strikes, RMT warns
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch joins members on the picket outside Liverpool Lime Street station
[Neil Terry Photography] 
TAXPAYERES have been forced to fork out £1 billion to privateer rail operators in compensation for profits lost due to strike action.
Rail union RMT announced the rip-off as 20,000 rail workers staged the latest strike in their 18-month dispute over working conditions, job security and pay at the weekend.
Rail operators are indemnified against lost profits through a clause in the original franchises awarded when the rail industry was privatised by the Tories between 1994 and 1997.
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