RAIL union RMT warned of a “fresh tidal wave of anger” yesterday over the decision by failing train operator Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) to award its chief executive a “telephone-number” salary.

The firm runs Southern Rail, where an ongoing dispute with unions has caused months of delays and disruption.

GTR chief executive Charles Horton pocketed a whopping £495,000 in the year up to June 2016, a period which saw a series of crippling strikes over proposals to extend unsafe driver-only operation (DOO) on Southern services.