Birmingham council spent £256,000 on taxi fares in just one month Fourteen firms received payouts from the local authority of between £2,000 and £35,000 each during April
Birmingham City Council spent an astonishing £256,000 on contract taxi fares last month, new figures have revealed.
Some 14 firms received payouts from the local authority of between £2,000 and £35,000 each during April.
The vast majority of journeys are ferrying vulnerable and disabled pupils to school, taking the elderly to day centres or hospital appointments or children in care to meetings.
The bills were outlined in monthly lists of payments of more than £500 and many smaller payments could mean the total is much higher.
A council spokeswoman said: “The council’s bill for taxi services represents the cost of providing essential transport services – including those for children and adults across the city – primarily the home to school service and transporting vulnerable adults and young people from their homes to care centres.
“In some cases, such as ensuring children with special needs can access appropriate educational facilities, this may involve journeys that go outside Birmingham’s boundaries, which can result in higher fares.”
Three taxi firms, Beaufort Cars, Star Cars and Plaza Cars received payments of more than £35,000 each in April. For the same month last year they were given £21,298, £23,314 and £36,797 respectively – showing a general increase in the last 12 months.
Home to School Transport cost the city council £17.416 million in 2012/13, and a large proportion of that was spent on taking more than 4,000 children with special needs to school places – often in other parts of Birmingham or even outside the city.
A report to council in December 2012 said: “The cost of the service has increased at a greater rate than anticipated due to an increase in local special school pupils and an increasing reliance on out of authority placements.”
It said that action was being taken to increase car sharing on some journeys and negotiating large volume discounts with cab firms.
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