Bus companies probed over concessionary travel

Published on Wednesday 22 December 2010 17:42

Scotland's concessionary travel scheme is grossly expensive and has been marred by allegations of fraud.

The cost of the scheme, which subsidises travel for pensioners, the disabled and young adults, could spiral from 199 million a year to well over twice that amount by 2015. The national smart card system introduced to monitor the scheme cost five times the original projected budget.

Meanwhile, eight travel companies are being investigated for allegedly making fraudulent claims totalling over 1.7 million.

Holyrood's audit committee yesterday demanded answers from Transport Scotland, the body that inherited the scheme upon its inception in 2006.

Transport Scotland chief executive David Middleton was unable to name the civil servants involved in setting up the scheme or reveal which bus companies are under investigation for fraud when asked by committee convener Hugh Henry.

Mr Henry repeatedly pressed Mr Middleton to reveal the names of the civil servants responsible for allowing the original 9m tendering cost for the electronic ticket machines to rocket to 42m. MSPs heard the 9m would not have covered the cost of buying the 3,500 machines for all 7,000 buses across Scotland.

Mr Henry said ministers "didn't have a Scooby Doo what the real cost would be".