He won with 3,288 votes, a majority of 1,075, on a turnout of 23.6% Mr Doherty is the former Irish secretary of the trade union and has worked as manager at its London headquarters for the past nine years. He takes over on 1 March 2004 from Richard Rosser who is retiring after 37 years' service at TSSA, including the last 15 as General Secretary.

TSSA General Secretary-elect Gerry Doherty said:

"I am honoured and privileged to have been chosen to lead TSSA for the next five years. "First, I would like to acknowledge the contribution Richard Rosser has made to TSSA over the past 15 years, bringing the union and its members through privatisation and successive Tory governments. I also would like to pay tribute to the three other candidates for the fair way in which this election was contested. "In the coming year I will be pressing for Alistair Darling to deal with the issue of ownership and integration in his review of the structure of Britain's railways. It is imperative that our voice is heard on this issue. "I will also be determining how we can strengthen our political activity and affiliations at grassroots level and play a more active role in national forums through our members and branches. "However, the debate about TSSA's political direction was settled at last year's annual conference. TSSA is and will remain affiliated and committed to the Labour party. "Our union may disagree with Government policies in a number of areas, but my election has shown that TSSA members want to engage with Labour, not walk away from the party. I look forward to supporting ministers when we agree with them and winning the argument with them when we disagree." ends

For more details, contact: Mike Katz, Head of Communications on (020) 7529

8033 or 07956 925969 (mobile)

Notes to Editors

1. TSSA represents 33,000 members in administrative, clerical, managerial, professional and technical jobs in the railways, buses, the London Underground, the travel trade, canals, ports and ferries, and road haulage.

2. The full election results are as follows:

Steve Coe - 2,213 (29.2%)

Gerry Doherty - 3,288 (43.4%) - ELECTED

Pam Gardner - 803 (10.6%)

John Munday - 1,276 (16.8%)

Number of papers issued - 32,109

Spoilt papers - 13

Turnout - 7,580 (23.6%)

3. Biography of Gerry Doherty Gerry has been a member of the Labour Party since 1985 and has been a trade unionist for 27 years working as a workplace representative, an official and latterly a senior negotiator.

He began his career as a clerical officer with ScotRail in 1975 where he worked for 16 years. Gerry then worked as TSSA's Irish secretary based in Dublin covering Eire and Northern Ireland until 1995 when he became TSSA's divisional officer for the British Railways Board HQ, based at TSSA's headquarters in London. Since 1998 Gerry has worked as a development manager in London leading a team of negotiators who represent members working in 60 bargaining units in a number of rail companies. These include engineering firms such as Amey, Balfour Beatty and Carillion and train operators First Great Western, Chiltern, Wessex, c2c, Silverlink and WAGN.

4. A high resolution image of Gerry is available on request - please call

Mike Katz on 020 7529 8033 or 07956 925969.

TSSA elects new general secretary