Department for Transport

Douglas Alexander appoints new member of the British Transport Police Authority and announces re-appointment of four existing members
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date 30 Jun 2006 00:00
source Department for Transport
type Press release

The Secretary of State for Transport, Douglas Alexander, today announced the appointment of Jeroen Weimar as Member of the British Transport Police (BTP) Authority.

The Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003 originally provided for the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) to nominate a member to the BTP Authority but, following the decision to close the SRA, this statutory right was removed by the Railways Act 2005. Jeroen Weimar succeeds the previously SRA nominated member and has been appointed by the Secretary of State for his knowledge of, and experience in relation to, the interests of persons providing railway services.

The Secretary of State has also decided to re-appoint the following four Members who were originally appointed on a two year tenure: Lew Adams, Robin Gisby, Suzanne May and Christine Knights.

The Authority's role is to maintain and oversee a police force for the railways. The Authority was established on 1 July 2004, under the chairmanship of Sir Alistair Graham, to enhance the status and public accountability of the BTP.

Notes to editors

1. All members of the Authority are appointed in accordance with the Code of Practice issued by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.

2. Jeroen Weimar has been appointed for four years from 1 July 2006, with the possibility of renewal. Remuneration will be £14,448 per annum for a time commitment of 30 days per annum.

3. Lew Adams, Robin Gisby, Suzanne May and Christine Knights have been reappointed for four years from 1 July 2006. Remuneration is £14,448 per annum.

4. The Railways and Transport Safety (RTS) Act 2003 requires that the Secretary of State ensures that the membership of the BTP Authority includes at least four industry representatives, four passenger representatives, an employee representative, and representatives of the interests of people in Scotland, England and Wales. One person can satisfy one or more of these criteria.

Members' biographical details

Jeroen Weimar

Jeroen Weimar is Director of Transport Policing and Enforcement at Transport for London. He is responsible for TfL's partnerships with the Metropolitan Police Service and the British Transport Police. This includes the Transport Operational Command Unit, which is a dedicated transport police service supporting London's strategic road network and bus services.

Prior to taking up this position, Mr Weimar was Chief of Staff to Bob Kiley, Commissioner of Transport for London from early 2001. He was also responsible for leading TfL's integration activity with London Underground.

Before joining TfL Mr Weimar worked as a senior consultant economist focusing on the reform of public services for a number of major public and private sector clients in the UK, Europe and the US.

In 1999 he served as the interim Director of Performance at the newly established Greater London Authority, to ensure that the mayor had effective oversight of public service delivery in London.

Lew Adams

Lew Adams is a former General Secretary of the Train Drivers' Union ASLEF. In this position he provided leadership and direction for the union through the period of privatisation of Britain's railway. He played a key role in the development of the new Industrial Relations and Safety procedures which operated in the rail industry following the Railways Act 1993 Act and is considered to be an expert on both subjects.

Mr. Adams is currently an International Industrial Relations Consultant (Rail) with UK Trade & Investment.

Robin Gisby

Robin Gisby started his career in engineering, focusing on project management and business turnaround. With an MBA, he proved himself more than capable of improving the profitability of businesses and identifying new business opportunities. In 1990 he established and acted as Managing Director for Charterail Ltd, a joint venture between GKN, British Rail and two financial partners.

Since 1997, Mr Gisby has worked for Network Rail, firstly as Director of Freight then as Director of Network Development (1999). In 2000 he was made Director of the Eastern Region then, in 2003, Director of the Southern Region. In May 2004 he was appointed Operations and Customer Services Director where he is responsible for all operational and customer issues across the rail network, covering 18,000 trains a day, with 7,300 staff and a £250 million cost budget. He is in charge of the management of Network Rail's relationships with the train operating companies, Passenger Transport Executives, the Scottish Executive and the Welsh Assembly.

Suzanne May

Suzanne May has represented the interests of transport users in and around London since 1985: firstly as a Deputy Chair of the statutory consumer 'watchdog' the London Regional Passengers Committee and between 2000-2004 as Chair of the London Transport Users Committee, its successor body. She has had a long involvement with the national environmental transport campaign 'Transport 2000' and is currently Chair of Transport 2000 Trust. As a former National Treasurer of the National Federations of Women's Institutes and a member of the Women's National Commission she has always taken a keen interest in the varying needs of women throughout their lives when they travel on public transport.

Christine Knights

After an early career spanning government, industry and education, Christine Knights joined Consumers International in 1994. Since then she has worked to promote the interests and rights of consumers abroad and in the UK for a variety of consumer organisations.

She has been involved in the development of consumer policy, consumer organisations and advice bureaux. Ms Knights chaired the Rail Passengers Committee for North Eastern England and is now a board member of Passenger Focus. She is currently a member of the RSSB Rail Personal Security Group and was a member of the former BTP Committee.

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Department for Transport Website: http://www.dft.gov.uk

Railhub Archive ::: 2006-06-30 DfT-001