Here come the judges - in £900,000 of hired motors

The Scottish Court Service has signed a deal with East Lothian-based Bradbury Motors to provide the chauffeur-driven cars, which will take law lords to High Court sittings across the country.

The size of the deal was today defended by the court service, which said it was vital that both judges and court documents could be safely and securely transported.

However, critics said the cost of the cars was "excessive".

Earlier this year it emerged that nearly 1.5million of taxpayers' cash had been spent on driving judges around in the past six years.

Is a 900,000 bill for transporting High Court judges around good value? Vote here

The latest 900,000 is being spent on a deal with Port Seton-based Bradbury Motors for a "demand-led" service, with fixed rates for the length of the contract which has not been revealed.

The company's fleet includes a Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit, S-Class and E-Class Mercedes and a Volvo S80.

Charlotte Linacre, campaign manager at the TaxPayers' Alliance, said the level of spending was "excessive."

She said: "It's astounding that so much money has been forked out on luxury rides when cheaper options are available.

"There will be unavoidable travel costs as judges have to be transported safely, but almost a million on such expensive cars is excessive. With savings desperately needed, such big bills must be brought down."

A Scottish Court Service spokeswoman said: "A transport service is available for members of the judiciary undertaking official duties.

"As High Court sittings take place throughout Scotland, the service is vital to provide safe and secure transport for judges as well as court documents or equipment containing sensitive information to court.

"This allows judges to work on cases confidentially while travelling so that hearings can be dealt with promptly and efficiently."

The Scottish Court Service revealed under a Freedom of Information request earlier this year that it had spent almost 1,000 every day on top-of-the-range vehicles to take judges to and from the bench. Opposition politicians branded the 1,459,591 bill since 2005 "concerning" - with costs nearly doubling in the five years.