Riding the gravy train: BBC spends more than £1.5MILLION on taxis in just ONE YEAR
BBC bosses are spending hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers' cash on taxi rides for staff, Express.co.uk can reveal.
BBC staff took almost 80,000 taxi rides on expenses last year
New figures show corporation staff took almost 80,000 taxi journeys on expenses last year, racking up a massive £1,560,476 bill.
Pampered employees in Scotland spent £556,000 on taxis in 2015, while those based in Northern Ireland left taxpayers with a bill of £296,000.
And a shocking £23,000 was racked up from more than 1,500 journeys which were cancelled after the taxis already had turned up.
BBC staff have a duty to deliver value for money
Alex Wild, Taxpayers' Alliance spokesman, said: "This is a vast amount of money to have spent on taxis where in many instances public transport would have been an option.
"BBC staff have a duty to licence fee payers to deliver value for money just like all other public sector workers.
"Spending the equivalent of 160 licence fees on taxis that weren't even used is simply unacceptable."
The Taxpayers' Alliance slammed the corporation last night
The figures, obtained under Freedom of Information laws, show employees based in Scotland cancelled the most journeys last year.
Hard-up taxpayers were left to cough up £7,000 after 428 scrapped trips, while Welsh staff clocked up a bill of £4,440 for 329 cancellations.
The average fare across all departments was £19, but staff in the broadcaster's Strategy & Digital wing, based around the UK, claimed an average of £28 per trip.
Scottish staff cancelled 428 trips after the taxis had arrived
The disclosure comes just days after Express.co.uk revealed the corporation spent £553,000 on private health insurance for employees last year.
More than 320 staff members – mainly senior managers – are entitled the perk, which the BBC stopped offering to new employees in 2011.
The figures were branded "crazy" at a time when the BBC faces pressure from Culture Secretary John Whittingdale to cut costs.
A BBC spokesman defended its spending on taxis, saying: "Overall more than a third of taxis are to get guests to and from shows.
"The BBC broadcasts 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and live broadcast demands will often affect advanced bookings at short notice.
"Rigorous guidelines ensure taxi travel is proportionate and waiting time instances have come down by 10 per cent."