RAIL union RMT called for an end to “pandemic profiteering” today after hundreds of millions of pounds were paid out to shareholders in FirstGroup.

The rail and bus operator has announced a £500 million dividend bonanza to shareholders — and boasted of more to come — after receiving extra subsidies to run services during the pandemic lockdown.

And the sum was increased recently after the company pocketed an unexpected £50m after agreeing with the government to terminate its TransPennine Express franchise.

Now FirstGroup has told shareholders that new National Rail contracts with the Department for Transport will “support attractive dividends.”

RMT said that the contracts were “ushering in a new era of risk-free profiteering” as the government shoulders all revenue risk.

FirstGroup has also announced a target of a 10 per cent profit margin on its British bus operations.

But RMT warned that to meet the target unprofitable routes could be axed if local authorities do not have the cash to subsidise them.

The union said that at the same time FirstGroup’s front-line workers “are being callously subjected to attacks on jobs, conditions and pensions, despite their commitment and heroism throughout the pandemic.”

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “These plans expose the utter moral and financial bankruptcy of privatised transport. 

“Our members and the taxpaying public have been through hell during this pandemic.

“So many lives have been lost, there’s been so much suffering and sacrifice and our members are told they have to do their bit for the country by accepting pay freezes, job cuts and attacks on pensions and conditions.

“Yet here we are watching the same old sharp suits looking to sweat the system in pursuit of obscene wealth, crowing at the removal of risk from their enterprises and promising ‘attractive dividends’ to people who have done nothing but take money from the taxpayer since the pandemic began.

“Other countries have stopped dividend payments by companies receiving bailouts and as a minimum our government needs to step in to stop this payout.

“But it’s also time to end this grisly pandemic profiteering at public expense and take our vital transport networks out of the hands of the get-rich-quick crew.”

A FirstGroup spokesperson said: “The proceeds from the sale of our North American businesses enable us to address longstanding and significant liabilities.

“We are paying a substantial amount into our pension schemes and have paid back our CCFF pandemic support loan from the Government, as well as returning value to shareholders, while also ensuring our ongoing business has the financial strength and flexibility for the future.

“Our employees – including RMT members – will benefit from our renewed focus on bus and rail services in the UK.

“This includes, for example, the creation of green jobs as the company delivers on our net zero carbon commitments and through playing a key role in helping the country ‘build back better’, not least in left behind towns and cities where we provide critical transport networks.”