His own conscience will tell him to give the money back

Len Northcutt Bereaved father

But Len Northcutt, whose son died along with 30 others in the Ladbroke Grove crash in 1999, told the BBC that he was disgusted with the pay-off.

"We are talking about a very large amount of money," he said.

"I think he should pay it back. Whether it goes to a charity or towards the safety programme for the railways, as long it is doing some good and not in his pocket.

"It seems disgraceful that they are taking money out of the company when they should be putting it back in."

Mr Northcutt said he understood that Mr Corbett was legally entitled to the money, but said it was a moral issue.

'Institutional paralysis'

"You hope people like Mr Corbett are human and they can see that this is morally wrong and his own conscience will tell him to give the money back, irrespective of what his legal entitlement is," he said.

Earlier this year the government agreed to give Railtrack �1.5bn to help cover track repairs, maintenance and compensation for train operators following Hatfield.

But the company said it will need a further �2bn from the government to cover the work.

Mr Northcutt said it was disgraceful that such a pay-off could be agreed when the company was doing so badly.

"That Railtrack can find this money and then the next minute go and ask the government for more money, it is absolutely disgraceful," he said.

Len Northcutt: Mr Corbett should give the money back

"Also Mr Corbett got his share dividends as well. Railtrack managers didn't accept their bonus related payments this year, but they still got their dividends."

Details of Mr Corbett's payoff have been published in the company's annual report.

It comes just days after an inquiry into the Ladbroke Grove crash accused Railtrack of "institutional paralysis".

Mr Northcutt said he hoped the report would improve safety on the railway, but said he was not convinced that Railtrack was serious about changing.

"The report has more or less said what the survivors and bereaved have been saying," he said.

"Now we have the backing of Lord Cullen's report you can actually go to companies like Railtrack and say: 'What are you going to do?'

"But the problem is they are only recommendations and they don't have to take them up by law. I would like to know what is going to happen if they don't say what they are going to do to improve things.

"They have got to convince us, show us exactly what they are doing."