Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Lyons claimed £251 taxi fare

Lewis Smith
Thursday 23 July 2009 19:00 EDT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Sir Michael Lyons, the chairman of the BBC Trust, claimed £251.80 on a taxi to take him home from the London final of Strictly Come Dancing.

The taxi fare was included among expenses claims of £19,116 made over six months by Sir Michael from October 2008 to March this year.

The single biggest type of expense claimed by the chairman of the trust, which oversees how the BBC is run, was accommodation, including one bill of almost £280 for a single night in a London hotel. Overall he claimed £9,616 on accommodation.

Where possible, a trust spokeswoman said last night, the chairman travels by rail but the Strictly Come Dancing final, which was won lastDecember by Tom Chambers, the Holby City actor, ended too late for him to catch a train to his home in Birmingham.

Other long-distance cab fare claims included £386 from Birmingham to meet a group of drama writers in Liverpool and back home again, and a £351 return journey from Birmingahm to Cardiff where he was a guest speaker at a dinner.

His train fare claims for the six-month period, amounted to £5,379 but he ran up another £14,467 in car journeys charged separately. The figure included the £14,500 cost of having drivers available when he was in London.

His claims were made public alongside those of the other BBC trustees. They totalled £78,394, the smallest being £249 claimed by Anthony Fry over five months.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in