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Press Release Brian Coleman's extraordinary £10,000 taxi bill Figures released today show the Vice Chair of the London Assembly, Brian Coleman, has claimed over £10,000 in taxi expenses last year. Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone said it was a, ‘staggering bill with little benefit for Londoners’. The Greater London Authority’s Audit Committee published figures today, which showed the average taxi expenses claimed by London Assembly members from 1st April 2006 to 30th March 2007 was £845. Brian Coleman AM claimed £10,334 on taxi expenses over that period. Mr Coleman’s cab bill accounts for nearly half of the taxi bill of all of the London Assembly members and the Mayor combined. Earlier this year, Mr Coleman pushed through a proposal through the London Assembly so the Chair and Deputy Chair of the Assembly could use a single taxi for a series of engagements, rather than separate vehicles, in effect creating a chauffeured taxi service. A full meeting of the London Assembly agreed this proposal on the 14th March. It is expected that the majority of the Assembly member’s journeys will be undertaken by public transport in line with the principles of the Mayor’s transport strategy. In support of this policy and to minimize the use of taxis, annual all zone travel cards are available to the Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Chair and Deputy Chair of the Assembly, and Assembly Members. Ken Livingstone said, “Brian Coleman’s cab bill is an example of extravagance for no purpose. ‘Brian Coleman has spent over £10,000 on his taxi bill, the highest by a long way of any individual since London government was re-established, and three times higher than any other Assembly member. It is a staggering £9488 more than the average Assembly member’s expenses. ‘There is little logical explanation for this amount given that when he was previously the chair of the Assembly his taxi bill was a fraction of this amount. ‘Elected members are of course entitled to use cabs, but this is of a different order altogether – it is the creation of a chauffeur service in all but name. ‘Whilst Mr Coleman was busy being chauffeured around he was voting against measures which cut the costs of living in the capital for the poorest Londoners, including free bus travel for under 18s in full time education and paying cleaners a living wage of £7.20 an hour. ‘Using public transport is crucial to cutting congestion, pollution and tackling climate change. So rather than swanning around London in a chauffeur-driven car, Mr Coleman should try cutting down on the receptions, lunches and dinners and set an example to Londoners by using buses, the tube, or even walking occasionally.” Ends. Notes to Editors 1. Assembly taxi expenses are available on the Audit Panel agenda of 13 July 2007. 2. On 28th November 2006, the Business Management and Appointments committee recommended changes to rules governing expenses. They decided: ‘To amend the Authority's Expenses and Benefits Framework, subject to the approval of the Mayor and for the reasons set out in the report, by the inclusion of the following clause: "That, where the Assembly's Chair and/or Deputy Chair are on official business in those capacities and therefore carrying their respective badges of office and are undertaking a number of duties on any one day (that are reasonably consecutive), they may request that that the same vehicle would take them to and from those engagements and remain for the duration of the engagements (noting that this may lead, in such circumstances, to waiting times in excess of the standard limits.)” Source: <www.london.gov.uk/assembly/bmac/2006/bmacnov28/mins-nov28.pdf> On the 14th March the London Assembly agreed the changes to taxi expenses: MEDIA ENQUIRIES: Press information is available from Joe Derrett on 020 7983 4635 GENERAL PUBLIC/NON-MEDIA ENQUIRIES: Call the Public Liaison Unit at the Greater London Authority on 020 7983 4100 DUTY PRESS OFFICER: For out-of-hours media enquiries, please call 020 7983 4000
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