SIR George Mathewson was waved off with a £113,000 golden goodbye when the former Royal Bank of Scotland chief stepped down from his part-time position as chairman of rail and bus group Stagecoach in April.

While Sir George's package for the year to the end of April totalled £283,000, Sir Brian Souter's last pay packet as chief executive amounted to £1.2 million, including a £382,000 cash bonus, as the co-founder of the Perth-based transport group stepped up to replace Sir George.

Sir George, who had enjoyed a near doubling in his fee at Stagecoach from £84,000 in 2011 to £165,000 in 2012, got another boost after Stagecoach handed him a one-off payment of £113,333 on his retirement from office.

Sir Brian received a 37.2% pay rise for the year as his £599,000 basic salary was topped up £200,000 in lieu of a pension contribution and £22,000 of benefits in kind.

Sir Brian opted not to take £157,000 of his bonus to fund a medical screening programme for bus business employees. The remaining bonus was paid in cash, rather than containing a portion of shares which, since the financial crisis, are typically awarded so they can be withdrawn if it is later shown the bonus was not fully merited. Stagecoach posted an 8.1% rise in underlying profits to £218.9m for the year to the end of April.

The role of non-executive directors has come under increased scrutiny after it was revealed earlier this month that Lord Smith of Kelvin, the Scots chairman of the Green Investment Bank, is paid £120,000 a year to work one day a week.

A recent pay survey found that non-executive chairs of top companies received average pay rises of 6% last year.