flyingscot

Story below boiled my blood this morning. Tory party using taxi's everywhere, then when it comes out he misteriously repays some of them a year after when a newspaper starts sniffing around.

I am of the opinion that they shouldn't be giving taxi's as expenses, the salary is more than enough and they can use then if they wish but only claim the tube/bus/train fare as students are permitted to by the govt. Perhaps then they'd see how bad public transport can be. Some flaws are that a tory would never take a bus, and that might mean polititions actually come into contact with the general public...

Mind you I see why the govt thinks public transport is o.k and a good solution to the problems of a car if the govt. thinks taxi's are public transport!


TAXI FOR MCLETCHIE

TORY leader David McLetchie used public funds to take a taxi to the street where his mother lives.

McLetchie has insisted that all the cab trips he took using taxpayers' cash were for legitimate parliamentary business.

But £5000 worth of fares were to unspecified destinations.

Now the Record can reveal McLetchie took a parliamentary taxi from his Edinburgh home to the street where his mum lives in the capital in July 1999.

Yesterday, his spokesman refused to say whether the Tory leader was visiting his mother when he took the £9.10 cab ride. Ramsay Jones said: "I know nothing of this.

"That may be the street where his mother lives, but who knows whether he went to see her.

"I don't know why he took the trip. If you think he went to see his mother,prove it."

Jones did, however, confirm that his boss had taken a number of taxi rides at the taxpayer's expense to his dentist in Montgomery Street, Edinburgh.

Asked if these trips were for parliamentary reasons, Jones said: "David is entitled to take a taxi from his home to the parliament.

"If he wishes to stop off on the way at his dentist, or anywhere else, then that is perfectly fine."

This week, parliament chiefs were forced to disclose what details they had of McLetchie's trips by freedom of information commissioner Kevin Dunion.

They showed that public funds paid for McLetchie to go from his home to the Playhouse Theatre, to the National Gallery and to the exclusive New Club, all in Edinburgh.

Another £90 trip in 2003 was to Midlem, near Selkirk, which is well outside McLetchie's constituency.

Yesterday, it emerged that McLetchie had repaid the £90. He handed the cash back at the same time as the Record were exposing the fact that he had signed a motion in parliament which supported the views of a client of his law firm, Tods Murray.

McLetchie also repaid £166 he had claimed from the parliament for a flight and a train trip to the Tory Party conference in Bournemouth in October 2002Both repayments were made in March of this year after inquiries had been made into his expenses.

A spokesman for the parliament said: "We can confirm that Mr McLetchie discovered two errors in claims he had made in 2002-03 and 2003-04.

"In March 2005, he notified the Allowances Office of this and repaid the sums involved."

McLetchie's spokesman could not say why his boss had decided to repay the money so long after he had received the cash.

Jones said: "I have no idea what prompted David to take this action."

McLetchie is on holiday in New Zealand and was unavailable for comment.

In all, McLetchie has claimed about £11,000 in taxi fares since he became an MSP in 1999.

His colleagues are becoming increasingly concerned about the deepening scandal their leader is sinking into.

One Tory MSP said: "This is looking bad, very bad."

Political opponents have also seized on the row.

SSP leader Colin Fox said: "Does McLetchie not believe he is paid enough?

"Does he not realise he is paid a princely sum, with plenty of allowances on top?

"It is a disgrace he is abusing the parliament's expenses in this way

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Colin

To come second is to be the first of the losers!

robmawer

By the same token, it's £5k in the pocket for cabbies. Who at least are working for their money, rather than taking a cut of £109bn or so coughed up by the social services.


Rob.

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