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The deputy mayor of London has accused ex-Crossrail chief executive Andrew Wolstenholme of misleading London Assembly members at a meeting just before he left in March 2018.

Joanne McCartney made the remarks in the assembly chamber this morning, when the transport committee grilled former Crossrail executives about why the project was revealed to be 拢2bn over budget and more than a year late just months before it had been due to open. 

She said: 鈥淵ou briefed us on Crossrail [on 6 March 2018] and from my memory it was all positive; there was no indication that there was any risk or anything which could stand in the way of a December opening date.

鈥淪ome of us, looking back, do feel we were misled.鈥�

Wolstenholme (pictured) responded: 鈥淲e always try to give a balanced view, and I find it very unlikely that we didn鈥檛. [The risk] should have been communicated.鈥� 

But McCartney hit back: 鈥淢y memory is certainly different, because if we had been aware of those risks, we would have raised them sooner.鈥� 

The transport committee鈥檚 chair, Caroline Pidgeon, also revealed Transport for London鈥檚 (TfL) remuneration committee had disagreed with Wolstenholme鈥檚 performance-related pay.

Wolstenholme was paid an 拢161,385 bonus in 2017/18, on top of a 拢476,772 base salary and 拢98,000 for loss of employment.

He told the transport committee he was unaware of the TfL remuneration committee鈥檚 objections, and added that his pay had been set out by the Crossrail board and linked to performance goals.