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Transport for London paid a record £51.4 million in “golden goodbyes” to 704 departing staff last year, it was revealed today.

The extraordinary scale of the pay-offs prompted Mayor Sadiq Khan to launch an investigation into whether the deals were in the best interest of Londoners.

However Mr Khan, who chairs the TfL board and who was a former transport minister, faced criticism for a lack of oversight amid fears he was putting pay-offs before potholes.

It comes at a time TfL has been so cash-strapped that it shelved plans to buy new Tube trains and said it may not be able to fix potholes for two years.

There were 21 million fewer journeys on the Tube and 15 million fewer on buses.

TfL’s annual report today showed the number of employees taking home more than £100,000 increased from 576 to 617 in the last financial year.

The number earning a basic £100,000-plus salary fell from 189 to 169. However, voluntary severance payments or overtime meant that the total number in the six-figure pay bracket rose to 617, including 53 staff at Crossrail.

The highest earners were Andrew Wolstenholme, who received £736,157 when he quit as Crossrail chief executive 18 months before the £14.8 billion line fully opens, and Leon Daniels, TfL’s former bus chief, who departed last December with £641,480, including £444,598 “compensation for loss of office”.

The highest earners among serving staff were Crossrail programme director Simon Wright, who received £436,092, and TfL commissioner Mike Brown, who received £374,959.

Mr Brown declined to take a bonus because of the Croydon tram crash in November 2016, in which seven passengers died and 61 were injured.

City Hall said today that the severance payments were a “TfL management decision taken with legal and HR advice”.

Mr Khan vowed in his 2016 election manifesto to “deliver major effiency savings within TfL” but, unlike mayoral predecessors Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson, chose not to sit on TfL’s remuneration committee.

Caroline Pidgeon, Lib-Dem chair of the London Assembly transport committee, said: “Passengers will find these huge severance payments galling at a time when Tube reliability has been in decline and many bus services are being cut back.

“Ordering a review into future payments is no cover for the fact that these have taken place at a time when Sadiq Khan has been head of TfL. The mayor’s actions are now merely attempting to close the stable gate after the horse has bolted.”

The remuneration committee will now have a beefed-up role in approving six-figure salaries, City Hall said.

Today’s report states that TfL’s operating costs were cut by £608 million, including a £175 million reduction in agency staff.

Many of the severance deals were the result of a cull of “unnecessary management layers”. This restructure was approved by Mr Khan but its implementation was said to have been the responsibility of TfL commissioner Mr Brown.

It was the second successive year when exit packages exceeded £50 million. A total of 848 staff were paid off in 2016/17.

TfL, which has lost its £700m annual Government subsidy, is said to be on track to make a profit by 2022.

Total headcount, including agency staff, fell from 29,189 to 28,456.

Successes during the year included the start of night services on the London Overground, the launch of the T-charge to deter polluting vehicles from central London and the expansion of “Boris bikes” to Brixton.

The pay-offs review will include deals struck across all City Hall organisations. Mr Khan said: “TfL has taken huge strides in cutting their year-on-year operating costs and reducing the number of senior staff is an important part of this.

“We have to abide by pre-existing contractual commitments, but I want to ensure that future contractual arrangements for senior staff are in the best interests of Londoners.”