A 63-year-old Surrey man who was employed as a contract maintenance worker for SkyTrain is accused of slashing 480 SkyTrain seats.

Terald Nicholas Gorecki has been charged with mischief over $5,000 and is expected to appear in court in February.

Transit Police spokeswoman Anne Drennan said the damage to the seats, cut with a box cutter between August and November, is estimated to be more than $45,000. "The investigation required members of the Transit Police Crime Reduction Unit to review hundreds of hours of video tape," Drennan said.