Civil servants take 1,500 taxis a month
... as public are told to ditch cars for greener transport
BUREAUCRATS took almost 1,500 taxi trips every month while telling the public to ditch their cars in favour of cycling and public transport.
Despite ploughing millions of pounds into initiatives encouraging ‘sustainable alternatives to car use’, the Scottish Government allowed civil servants to use taxis 51,773 times in only three years.
Between 2013 and 2016, they spent £714,241 on taxi trips, an average of almost £14 on each journey.
Nearly 60 per cent of the journeys were for distances of three miles or less, figures obtained by The Scottish Mail on Sunday show.
This was despite promoting taxpayer-funded initiatives such as the Low Carbon Transport Loan Fund, the Active Travel Programme and the Cycling Action Plan – all designed to reduce car use.
The volume of taxi journeys signed off by the Government – which says taxis should be ‘a last resort’ and only used ‘in exceptional circumstances’ – has sparked calls for officials to ‘practise what they preach’.
Yesterday, Scottish Conservative chief whip John Lamont said: ‘These figures show that hundreds of thousands of pounds have been spent on taxis in just the last few years.
‘Given that many of these have been for short journeys, maybe it’s time the SNP practised what they preach when it comes to leading a more active lifestyle.’
The majority of outings were provided by a contracted taxi company, which was paid £485,951 over the three years. The rest were paid for via individual expenses claims.
A total of 29,827 of the journeys were of three miles or less – the distance between the Government’s two main Edinburgh hubs of Victoria Quay and St Andrew’s House. The journeys were taken as the Government boasted of doubling its Low Carbon Transport Loan Fund – aimed at ‘freeing towns, cities and communities from the damaging emissions of fossil-fuelled vehicles’ – to £7.8 million.
The Government, which has a target of reducing Scotland’s carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050, also sent ‘personal travel advisers’ to 5,000 homes to advise residents on how to become greener as part of its Smarter Choices, Smarter Places scheme in 2010.
A spokesman for the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: ‘Given the Scottish Government’s taxpayer-funded campaigns on getting people to cycle and use the public transport more, these figures will raise eyebrows.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘Civil servants are required to travel in the most cost-effective and time-efficient method available.
‘Guidance was updated in December 2015 to make clear that, when public transport is available, travelling by taxi should be a last resort and only used in exceptional circumstances.’