TfL staff claim £127,000 a year to drive their own cars

Transport for London staff are claiming £127,000 a year in expenses for using their cars.

Its employees have clocked up almost a million miles on journeys, some of little more than a mile, since Boris Johnson became Mayor in 2008. Many are on routes served by public transport.

Between April 2008 and March this year, TfL paid £383,091 in employee travel claims. Freedom of information requests for the Evening Standard found TfL staff claimed for 1,069 trips of five miles or less in the past year, with not one cycled. Staff can claim 40p a mile for car travel or 12p a mile for bike rides.

Green mayoral candidate Jenny Jones called on the Mayor to "end this incentive to drive". Simon Birkett, director of Clean Air in London, added: "What a stark contrast: the public faces sharp fare rises while TfL staff get paid handsomely to drive short distances in the most polluted parts of London."

TfL says private cars can only be used for work purposes "in the absence of a reasonable public transport alternative". Yet the datum shows staff have been paid to drive dozens of trips of under a mile, such as Sloane Square to Victoria, Moorgate to Liverpool Street, and Hammersmith to Goldhawk Road.

A TfL spokeswoman said many journeys were made at night when the Tube had stopped and buses were infrequent.