Taxi Driver Online

Birmingham City Council's £500k taxi bill in one month

January 14 2011

Birmingham City Council spent £500,000 on taxi and private hire cars in just one month, new figures have revealed.

And the council admitted that it did not know why the taxis and private hire vehicles had been hired.

Labour MP Steve McCabe (Selly Oak) has called for the local authority’s bosses to monitor expenditure on a daily basis as a result of the £489,514.23 spent in October.

The enormous figure came to light as a result of a Government edict which has ordered councils to publish every item of expenditure with an outside supplier costing more than £500.

Last year Birmingham City Council said it was spending £1.4 million a year on cabs, in response to a Freedom of Information request.

But Mr McCabe said the latest figure suggests it could spending as much as £6 million a year.

The council is facing budget cuts of almost £170 million over two years. Although the council said it could not identify why specific cabs had been used, it said in many cases they would have been hired by social services to transport vulnerable adults to day centres.

Mr McCabe said: “The council needs to explain the discrepancy between the figure of £1.4 million they provided and this latest figure which suggests spending could be as high as £6 million a year.

“We need to know what they are spending half a million pounds on taxis for.

“I would hope the council’s chief executive and accountants would be looking at this on a daily basis to see how they can squeeze down costs.”

A Birmingham City Council spokesperson said: “On occasions when the use of public transport or walking is impractical due to distance, time or disability, it is necessary to hire taxis.

“Hot-desking or video/telephone conferencing are used as much as possible to keep costs down.

“The programme of consolidating the council offices has also impacted on taxi usage.

“The council has corporate contracts with cab firms in the city to ensure the best rates possible are obtained.”

Source; http://www.birminghampost.net/news/west ... -27988676/

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