News taxis probe drives down councillors' fare claims by half

The amount of cash spent on black cabs by local politicians plummeted by almost 3000 in the six months since we published details of the cost to the public purse.

Tory leader Iain Whyte today said the figures raised questions about the legitimacy of many taxi trips before the start of the year.

Councillors are only supposed to use taxis when no other public transport is “reasonably available”. They are also given free bus passes to get around the city.

The latest invoices – released to the Evening News under freedom of information laws – show Labour councillor Donald Anderson, who was council leader at the time, as the most frequent user of black cabs.

Other politicians, including new council leader Ewan Aitken and licensing chief Phil Attridge, remain near the top of the list – but have slashed their bills by as much as 69 per cent.

Earlier this year, there were widespread calls for an urgent investigation into councillors’ taxi usage, but this was resisted by council officials.

Instead, the chief executive recommended tighter control of the system, and all politicians were sent a letter to remind them of council procedures when claiming for taxis.

Conservative leader Iain Whyte said today: "It would appear that a re-enforcement of the guidelines has led to a dramatic drop in taxi use by some elected members.

If some councillors are cutting their use of taxis by more than 60 per cent, it begs the question whether they were legitimately using taxis in the first place."

In March, we revealed that a small group of local politicians repeatedly used taxis between their homes and the City Chambers.

All but one of the councillors continued to use cabs for this purpose between March and August this year, although their bills are much smaller. The then education leader Cllr Aitken did not claim for one single taxi between his Restalrig home and the office after our story broke, compared to a bill of 166 in the same six months of 2005.

Seven of the eight highest spenders are Labour councillors, with Deputy Provost and SNP councillor Steve Cardownie also on the list.

He today admitted the Evening News had made him and other councillors "think twice" before ordering a taxi.

"The stories in the News concentrated minds, and made us think if it was really necessary to take a cab," he said.

"But my bill has also reduced because Labour stripped me of a number of duties when I joined the SNP, so I don’t have as many engagements."

There is a huge disparity between the frequency of taxi use among councillors, with senior Labour politicians such as Andrew Burns, Ricky Henderson and Trevor Davies rarely hailing a black cab.

Others, such as Billy Fitzpatrick and Lorna Shiels, have racked up huge bills. Cllr Shiels was the only councillor to significantly increase her spending on taxis this year when compared to 2005.

Our original story revealed seven senior councillors made 488 work-to-home or home-to-work trips at a cost to the taxpayer of more than 3500 over 12 months.

The latest figures show all seven of the politicians spent less this year than in 2005, with Cllr Anderson’s bill for journeys to and from his Gilmerton home dropping by half.

He said today: "In terms of my travel costs, I was probably the cheapest council leader in Scotland. I believe it is more cost effective to use taxis and buses than have a council leader’s car, as many other local authorities do."

Cllr Attridge’s taxi bill dropped by the biggest percentage, down by 368 over the six-month period – mainly due to fewer journeys to and from his Leith home.

But he said this was "nothing" to do with the Evening News coverage, and was down to a variety of reasons such as hotter weather this year, a more unreliable taxi system at the council and a slight drop in the number of council meetings he was attending.

Cllr Fitzpatrick also refuted any suggestion that the News had persuaded him to cut his taxi bill by a third. "I carry out a lot of civic duties, and the council car has been made more available for me," he said.

Commenting on the overall drop of 45.8 per cent, a council spokeswoman said: "The council is always looking for ways to increase efficiency savings, and encouraging councillors to review their use of taxis is just one of many ways of achieving these savings. Obviously it has worked."

Councillors can offer to pay for personal taxi trips, and these have been deducted from the total.