British Gas fat-cat warms to £3.2m

BRITISH GAS, a company synonymous with the fat-cat scandals of the 1990s, revealed today that its boss received more than £3.2m last year.

Sir Roy Gardner, chief executive of Centrica, the British Gas-to-AA services empire, saw his pay soar 40% to £1.48m, including a £662,000 bonus.

Gardner, caught in the crossfire of the ownership battle for Manchester United where he is also chairman, also got Centrica shares valued at £750,000 as part of a long-term incentive scheme.

In addition, he made a profit of £1.03m when cashing in share options.

If all that was not enough, the 58-year-old's retirement pot at Centrica rose £1m to £3.8m. And he is sitting on shares worth £5.2m after the recent run-up in their price to a two-year high.

The latest haul for Gardner has seen him nearly quadruple his take from pay and bonuses at Centrica over the last five years. At Manchester United he is paid £80,000, having quadrupled his pay there in just three years.

The average salary for Centrica's 42,000 employees is £25,000.

Big pay rises for Gardner's three executive-colleagues as well, come after household bills for British Gas customers have risen 13% over the past two years, with more in the pipeline.

Phil Bentley, Mark Clare and Roger Wood received pay rises of around 25%, taking their earnings to between £757,000 and £843,000. The three also received long-term incentive shares worth £1.2 million.