UK Officials Spent $150Mln on First Class Travel Over Past 4 Years

Officials from UK government bodies reportedly spent some 60 million pounds on business class flights, 26 million pounds on taxi and 13 million pounds on first class rail trips.

MOSCOW, January 28 (Sputnik) — UK officials have spent some 100 million pounds (more than $150 million) on taxis, first class train travel and business class flights in the past four years, according to official figures, revealed by The Telegraph on Wednesday.

According to the data, officials from UK government bodies spent some 60 million pounds on business class flights, 26 million pounds on taxi and 13 million pounds on first class rail trips.

The UK Ministry of Defense is said to have spent 34.5 million pounds, while the Foreign and Commonwealth Office spent 23 million pounds and the country's Ministry of Justice spent some 20 million pounds on travel.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills had travel expenses standing at over eight million pounds, with the Department for International Development's travel expenses amounting to five million pounds.

According to the newspaper, a government source explained, however, that taxis were used in cases when it was necessary to transport disabled staff, with the expenditure being significantly lower than in 2010. As for flights, business class is only used if no economy class flights are available, the source said.

Back in 2011, UK Prime Minister David Cameron said that the country's ministers and civil servants should use economy class flights in an attempt to cut emissions having a negative impact on the environment.