HS2 exec on £235,000 a year claims £5.40 Tube fare to attend a meeting (2025)

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A HS2 executive earning more than £235,000 a year claimed £5.40 in Tube fares on expenses in order to attend a meeting.

Chief Railway Officer Emma Head submitted three small claims for London Underground journeys in October and November last year.

That is despite her being one of the government's highest paid officials, with a salary between £235,000 and £240,000 in 2022.

New data released last week shows several of HS2's most senior executives submitting small expense claims under £10, the Telegraph reports.

This included Ms Head's three separate claims for'travel on TFL to attend external meetings'.

Two of the claims were at a value of £5.40, while the third amounted to £8.50.

It comes amid heavy criticism for the rising costs of HS2, with the latest estimate suggesting it will cost £66 billion for the high speed line between London and Birmingham.

The last Conservative government controversially scrapped the rest of the project, which would have connected London with Manchester and Leeds.

When first mooted by the Gordon Brown government, costs for the entire project were predicted to be £37.5 billion.

Ms Head, who isresponsible for technical oversight of HS2, is far from the only executive to have submitted such small expenses.

In 2024 HS2's Stations Delivery Director Huw Edwards, who earns at least £170,000, claimed just £4.36 for a dinner 'while staying overnight in Birmingham on HS2 business'.

Iain Smith, responsible for Systems and Route Wide Delivery, also expensed a £5.60 journey and a £5.40 journey.

Tory MP Greg Hands, whose Buckinghamshire constituency has been affected by HS2, called for the company to be more careful about how it spends its money.

He said:'Whilst HS2 spends billions trashing my constituency, my constituents will expect tight cost control from their executives and officials, which doesn't seem to be the case.

'HS2 is a project that we can't afford as a country, but this Government is ploughing on with regardless. Every day that goes by, the cost goes up by millions, if not billions.'

It comes after it was revealed last month that HS2 had spent £20,000 on a model station made out of Lego.

And in November, it emerged that HS2 is blowing more than £100 million on a steel mesh 'shed' to protect bats from being hit by the high speed trains.

Its executive chairman chairman Sir Jon Thompson told a rail industry conference the structure in Buckinghamshire is needed to appease Natural England because bats are legally protected in the UK.

The original completion date for phase one of the project was December next year, but it has been pushed back to 2033.

A spokesperson for HS2 Ltd said: 'We adhere to guidance set out by the Treasury for managing public money.

'HS2 Ltd employees are reimbursed for legitimate additional costs incurred through their role.'

TFLBirminghamLondon Underground

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