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BBC's taxi bill soars by 60% in a year to a staggering £5.3million
The BBC's annual taxi bill for ferrying guests to programmes has soared by an astonishing £2million.
In the last financial year it spent £5.3million on transporting contributors, up 60 per cent on the previous £3.3million.
The demands of finding so-called 'talking heads' for round-the-clock news coverage are believed to be behind the steep rise.
Often guests will appear only if they receive taxis to and from the studio.
With more broadcasting going on and more programmes due to be made at the BBC's new regional centre in Salford - even though many guests will have to be brought up from London - taxi bills are likely to soar ever higher.
In total the broadcaster's taxi bill for the year to April rose to an astonishing £13.8million, up some 6 per cent from £13million the previous year. The bill amounts to the full licence-fee payments of 100,000 members of the public, and to around £36,500 a day.
Another £5.2million was spent on private car hire - up from £4.7million last year - bringing the total taxi and private car hire bill to £19million.
Responding to a Freedom of Information Act request, the BBC gave further details of the breakdown in its enormous taxi bill.
Alongside the costs for taking contributors to and from studios, £4million was spent on taking staff to shifts outside normal hours, and £4.5million on ferrying staff around on 'routine' business.
Costs fell under both headings. Two years ago the BBC managed to slash £5,000 per day off its bills when it stopped free taxis for some daytime news presenters.
Stars such as Natasha Kaplinsky and Sophie Raworth had been used to finding a taxi waiting on their doorstep to take them to work and another outside Television Centre at the end of their shift to take them home.
When the axe was brought down on the taxi perk by BBC directorgeneral Mark Thompson, there was little support for the presenters said to earn more than £200,000 a year.
Other presenters who front shows such as the Breakfast News or the Ten O'Clock News still qualify for free transport because of the unsocial hour of travel. The massive bill rise was attacked by the chief executive of the pressure group TaxPayers Alliance Matthew Elliott.
'It's clear from these figures that the decision to scrap taxis for newsreaders was just a PR stunt to mislead licence fee payers that the BBC was taking this issue seriously,' he said.
'Families are tightening their belts - and so should the BBC, by cutting back on taxi expenses.'
Liberal Democrat media spokesman Don Foster said: 'Licence fee payers want their money put into programme making, not expensive taxi fares.
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Taxis for staff working anti-social hours and for programme guests who are otherwise unpaid are reasonable-But London's excellent bus and Tube network should expect to see more BBC staff from now on.'
Last week the BBC came under fire for giving huge pay rises and bonuses to senior executives, despite rows over job cuts and onair trickery.
A spokesman yesterday said: 'The vast majority of taxi journeys are programme-related, and the number taken will fluctuate depending on what programmes we are making.
'We constantly monitor the use of taxis to ensure we negotiate the best deals with suppliers and keep track of how taxis are used.
'Like all organisations the BBC is facing increased costs due to the economic climate with, for example, the price of fuel significantly increased.
'However, by using preferred suppliers, we have protected ourselves against the worst of these price increases as the rates have been held throughout the year.'
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