UNIVERSITY of Bolton vice-chancellor George Holmes received a £66,000 pay rise in the last financial year, lecturers’ union UCU revealed yesterday — an increase of almost 30 per cent.

The University and College Union (UCU) said the top boss’s bung “will do nothing to combat the idea that vice-chancellors are utterly out of touch.”

Professor Holmes has cut a controversially flashy figure over recent years, driving a Bentley Continental car and maintaining a yacht on Lake Windermere.

The 29.4 per cent pay increase takes his salary to £224,300 a year.

University of Bolton has been found to be one of the least transparent in the UK in a list of 13 institutions produced by the UCU based on Freedom of Information requests.

Three years ago the university was found to be forking out £100,000 a time for “away days” for senior staff at a luxury hotel near Windermere.

UCU general secretary Sally Hunt said: “George Holmes has certainly made the headlines again this year, but not in a manner one would expect to be rewarded so handsomely for.

“The Bolton vice-chancellor has been rightly criticised previously for his embarrassing lack of self-awareness when it comes to his pay and accepting this huge increase will do nothing to combat the idea that vice-chancellors are utterly out of touch.

“It is particularly disappointing that Bolton took so long to release details of his pay package, especially when the university has been cited in previous years for a lack of transparency when it comes to pay and perks.”