£55m car & cab bill for MoD’s top brass
FURY AMID ARMY CUTS
DEFENCE chiefs have spent £55million on hire cars, taxis and chauffeur-driven vehicles in the past five years.
Documents obtained by the Daily Star Sunday also show military bosses blew more than £5,000 ferrying a group of VIPs around the country.
The military forked out £50m for rental cars between 2016/17 and
2020/21, and another £5m for taxis and vehicles with drivers over the same period.
It is the equivalent of paying the annual £20,400 salary of 2,450 private-rank soldiers – or almost five infantry battalions.
One series of cab journeys cost a staggering £5,295, according to documents seen by this newspaper.
A Freedom of Information request revealed two taxis picked up dignitaries from Heathrow and whisked them around various UK locations for six days before dropping them back at the airport.
Details of the spending can be revealed just weeks after a five-year defence review confirmed the Armed Forces face serious cuts.
Ships, aircraft and tanks will be axed in the coming months and years as the Army is cut by 4,000 to just
72,500 troops by 2025 – it’s smallest size since 1714.
Colonel Richard Kemp, a former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, said the excessive spending on vehicles was damaging to morale.
He added: “Members of the forces have had their own travel severely restricted by the need to save money. “These savings are important in a military budget that has been squeezed so tight, but MoD staff should think about the effect on services’ morale when they opt to use chauffeur-driven limousines.”
The Taxpayers’ Alliance said bosses “should not be using” public money for “swanky taxis”. An MoD spokesman said: “As a large organisation with out-of-town sites across the UK and bases all over the world, staff have to travel to locations that are not always accessible with public transport and often a lease/hire car or taxi is the most cost-effective way to travel.
“We are committed to delivering value for money. Our current contract for non-operational fleet management was awarded in 2016 and is targeting savings of around £152m over six years.”