A television documentary has exposed the spending habits of the countries local authorities and attacked the use of chauffeur vehicles.
Channel 4’s Dispatches collected information from 374 councils in the UK and discovered there was a spend of over £30 million on chauffeurs over the past five years.
The Freedom of information requests discovered spending such as £205 on golf lessons as a gift, £1,300 on a five star hotel booking, York City Council apparently spent £180 on pedicure and manicures.
The programme reported that Lord Hanningfield the leader of Essex County Council from 2001 to 2010 was jailed for fiddling expenses. In his last five years in power, he spent more than £300,000 on hospitality and travel.
Mayor of Tower Hamlets, Lutfur Rahman has the use of a chauffeur driven Mercedes which is reported to cost tax payers around £35,000 a year. Mr Rahman defended his use of chauffeur vehicles by commenting; “I have a busy schedule with back to back meetings, local transport just doesn’t work and taxis are too expensive – using a chauffeur is the best value for money.’
The film showed a suited chauffeur waiting outside the mayors house in a black Mercedes E-Class and then taking him less than a mile and a half to a local mosque for prayers. After an hour and half wait, the chauffeur then takes him to a popular local restaurant whilst parking in a bus lane.
The council defended that the chauffeur was employed therefore waiting time was not being charged.
Paul Gibson, TheChauffeur.com’s editor commented; “You’re damned if you do, and you’re damned if you don’t. Many seem to think hiring a chauffeur is purely a luxury, but if MP’s arrived late everywhere and their conversations were being broadcast by unprofessional drivers, the public would be up in arms yet again. However, unnecessary use of chauffeur vehicles should be monitored more as the tax payer cannot be expected to pay for it.”