Andy Lord

Educated at Repton School, Lord studied engineering at the University of Manchester, joining British Airways as an Engineering undergraduate in 1989.^[1] He then worked at the airline in a variety of roles, becoming Director of Operations in 2008. Leaving British Airways in 2015, Lord worked as a consultant, before joining John Menzies in 2016.^[2] Lord has also held director roles at companies and organisations such as NATS and Defence Equipment and Support.^[3][2]

In July 2019, Andy joined Transport for London (TfL), as the managing director of London Underground and TfL Engineering.^[2][4] In February 2022, the Commissioner of Transport for London Andy Byford appointed him Chief Operating Officer of TfL.^[5][6] Following the departure of Andy Byford from TfL in October 2022, Lord became Acting Commissioner.^[7][8] In June 2023, Lord was appointed commissioner of Transport for London on a permanent basis by the TfL board and the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.^[9][10] This makes him London's most senior transport official. Lord receives a base salary of £395,000, an increase of £40,000 from the previous commissioners.^[1][11] As of 2025^[update], his take home pay was £639,164 – with TfL noting that similar senior executives "earn £2m a year in the private sector".^[12]

In July 2025, Lord noted TfL generates a surplus on its operating costs and that "there is only one other city operator in the world [MTR Corporation in Hong Kong] which has an operating surplus" – adding that TfL needs assistance to fund capital projects such as new trains and extensions to the transport network.^[13]

In mid 2025, campaign group Looking for Growth (LFG) and journalist Tom Harwood filmed themselves cleaning graffiti off London Underground trains in protest of claimed inaction by TfL.^[14] Speaking to the London Assembly in July 2025, Lord claimed that he had evidence that the group had sprayed the graffiti themselves, then cleaned it up.^[15] Following freedom of information requests, no evidence surfaced, and Lord was accused of lying and smearing the campaigners.^[16][17][18] In December, Lord apologised for the claim, admitting that "there hasn’t been any evidence" that cleaners had sprayed graffiti on the trains.^[19] Lord noted that TfL and the British Transport Police were "making [...] good progress" on identifying "serial graffiti artists", and around £10 million a year was being spent cleaning graffiti.^[19]