London Underground Tube drivers 'paid £100,000-a-year despite their jobs getting EASIER'

The staggering, six figure pay packets come as the capital braces for the sixth strike this year since April.

According to documents released to the Sunday Times under Freedom of Information laws, the highest paid Tube driver in the year to November was £103,374.

Nine drivers were paid more than £100,000 and another 30 made more than £80,000.

It comes despite trains on five of the Tube's 11 lines becoming automatic, with plans for another four lines to be made automatic by 2023.

This means drivers only have to open and close the doors.

A basic salary for Tube drivers is more than double the average wage of a London nurse – and even more than many pilots, it was claimed.

The pay packets for  drivers include bonuses, overtime and employer pension contributions.

However, they don't include the two free annual travel passes each driver receives – worth about £3,548.

The highest paid Tube driver's pay is a 69 per cent increase of the highest salary in 2012.

James Roberts, the TaxPayers' Alliance's political director told The Sun Online: "These salaries are totally indefensible. Taxpayers funnelled over £2 billion to Transport for London last year, only to see it frittered away on these stratospheric wages and benefits.

"Increasingly, the role of a Tube driver is getting easier, with more sophisticated rolling stock requiring less human input. And the deranged trade unions need to be called out for making commuters' lives misery and committing daylight robbery against hard-working families."

The Tube has this year been shut down by strikes over claims of unfair treatment.

The Central Line walkout is expected to to run from from Friday 21 to Saturday December 22, while the Bakerloo Line will close on Boxing Day and Monday January 14.

Announcing the strikes, RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: "RMT members are rightly angry that staffing levels on the Bakerloo Line have been hacked back to the bone, presenting a serious danger to staff and passengers alike."

Transport for London said the approximate three per cent of drivers who earned more than £70,000 a year were "highly skilled test drivers and instructors who have additionally responsibilities to train the drivers safely."

A spokesperson added: "The average base pay of a Tube driver is £55,011. The overwhelming majority earned total remuneration – including base pay, overtime, employer pension contributions and certain allowances – of £70,000 or considerably less.

"Just over three per cent of drivers earned total remuneration over this, largely because they are highly skilled test drivers and instructors who have additional responsibilities to train drivers in the safe operation of trains using new, advanced signalling systems.

“These terms and conditions were agreed with trade unions in 2014. As with all other agreements made between London Underground and our unions, we have adhered to these terms and conditions since. These figures include all performance awards, overtime, employer pension contributions as well as basic salary.”

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