Bosses at skint ambulance trust hand back f lash motors to avoid £10k bill Emergency tax swerve
AMBULANCE chiefs are giving back controversial luxury cars – to save their own pockets.
The Sunday People revealed two weeks ago that East of England ambulance trust had spent £825,000 on a fleet of posh motors for executives.
The cars, including an Audi Q5, Land Rover Discoveries and a Mercedes A Class, have sirens and blue lights so they can respond to emergencies.
But managers have reacted in horror after being warned they could face a personal tax bill of up to £10,000 a year under new Inland Revenue rules.
Before April, emergency vehicles with lights and sirens were exempt from company car tax. That changed after it was revealed executives and even police IT staff were using it as a loophole.
Morale
Trust boss Robert Morton gave back the keys to his £65,000 Range Rover Sport last week – and other senior managers are likely to follow.
Staff have been told they can keep their car and pay the tax, make it business use only and leave it overnight at the trust HQ, or hand it back as a pool car.
The trust, which serves Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, says lease cars are offered to staff who cover at least 67 miles a week for work. But one insider told The People: “The HQ car park looks like a showroom. Morale is so low.”
The management perk has been slammed by hard-pressed paramedics who say the cash could have helped to save lives if it had been earmarked for front frontline nt tline services. Mr Mo Morton, ort ton, 53, the trust’s £14 £142,000-a-year 42,0 000-a-year chief executive, sparked outrage last year when he swapped his Range Rover for a faster Sport model.
One paramedic said last night: “The trust has turned into a giant boys’ club.
“They don’t care about staff or wasting money like this.” Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: “It It beggars belief that taxpay- ers’ cash is splashed on luxury cars for the bosses while Tory under-funding leaves ambulance crews struggling.” The trust says it its new business travel policy aims to further reduce its leasing costs “significantly”. It insisted staff were being equipped with “the right vehicles to do their duties at the best v value for money”. It added: ““Personal tax liability remains the obligation of every employee. T The trust is not aware of any emp employee being informed by HMRC o of a tax bill of £10,000. Last wee week the Sunday People revealed th the trust had splashed out £ 574,0 574,000 on management consultants – who spent six months advising bosses on how they coul could save money.