Check out a previous post about Tory Assembly member, Brian Coleman, and his hypocritical attempts to pay poverty pay to vulnerable GLA workers. While at the same time, claiming daily taxi fares far in excess to the weekly wage of such workers. Boris Johnson (left), of course has also committed himself to being in favour of scrapping the London Living Wage.
The interesting stuff from this Freedom of Information (FIO) request is that:-
Conservative deputy chair of the London Assembly, Brian Coleman, is under pressure today to explain how he managed to run up a £660 taxi fare in one day – paid for by London taxpayers.
Figures released today show that Mr Coleman claimed over £4,000 for
taxi bills from City Hall expenses in just nine months from the public
purse. This is more than ten times the average claim of other London
Assembly members.
Some taxi journeys Mr Coleman claimed for were to and from
Conservative Party events, which may break strict City Hall rules on
using taxpayers' money for political purposes.
JOHN BIGGS, London Assembly Member, said:
'Londoners will be astounded at the arrogance of someone who is
entitled to free public transport running-up a taxi fare of close to
£700 in one day.
'If this is the Conservative attitude to public office - not just
freeloading but slapping Londoners across the face with their gigantic
taxi bills - what would a Tory-run City Hall look like?'
JOHN GRAY, of trade union Unison said:
'Brian Coleman recently opposed paying Greater London Authority
cleaners any more than the minimum wage. Perhaps he could explain to
Londoners how he can justify spending more on one taxi fare than a
full week's wages for those who clean his office?'
Mr Coleman's taxi claims include £176 on 13 September 2007 explained
as 'car from home to various engagements' and £391 for a journey on 16
October to and from an 'event at the House of Commons'.
His largest one-day taxi claim comes in at £656 on 13 December 2007
and includes 2.5 hours 'waiting time'.
(London Labour Party press Release)
EndsNotes for editors:
1. Figures released by the Greater London Authority's Audit Committee
showed the average taxi expenses bill claimed by members of the London
Assembly members from April 1st 2007 to December 30th 2007 was £317.
Mr Coleman claimed taxi expenses totalling £4,157 / £461 per month.
(see attached file for breakdown of his claim).
2. Brian Coleman's £4,157 taxi account bill adds up to more than half
of the entire taxi account bill of all of the 24 London Assembly
members and the Mayor combined.
3. The total taxi expenses for the 25 London Assembly members and the
Mayor that was claimed between April 1st 2007 to December 30th 2007 is
£8,066.
4. On the 14th March 2007 Brian Coleman led a proposal in the London
Assembly to give the Chair and Deputy Chair of the Assembly the use of
a single taxi for a different meetings and engagements, rather than
separate taxis which were condemned at the time as a 'chauffeured taxi
service in all but name.' More at
http://www.london.gov.uk/assembly/assemmtgs/2007/plenarymar14/item07.pdf
5. The Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Chair and Deputy Chair of the Assembly,
and all Assembly Members are offered free annual all zone travel cards
to use for travel in London.
6. Taxi expenses for London Assembly members between April 1st 2007 to
December 30th 2007). See:
http://www.london.gov.uk/assembly/audit_panel_mtgs/2008/mar04/agenda.jsp
nuf said comrades?
