YP Letters: Bonus for Persimmon building boss is truly grotesque

NEARLY all of us know where that invisible line is between right and wrong, good and bad and acceptable and reprehensible. And even allowing a good margin of individual judgement, there can be no doubt at all that even in today’s executive pay excesses, a bonus of £100m for one individual reeks of such contempt and hypocrisy to be almost unimaginable.

York-based Persimmon chief executive Jeff Fairburn is the individual benefiting from a system so grotesque that some complicit in its construction have already had to fall on their swords.

My personal objection to this is two-fold: first, simply no one can justify such a colossal pay out and everyone implicit in putting the deal together should go.

Secondly, Persimmon, as a volume house builder, has a direct effect on many people’s lives, including some of my constituents. On a number of occasions now, I have seen at first hand the battles some have had to get decent standards of workmanship and finishes from Persimmon.

And this at the same time as the top executive is paid a bonus, which almost by itself, would pay for the East Leeds Orbital Road. Happy New Year Jeff, now cross back over that line into public acceptability and responsibility!