Transport for London chief Sir Peter Hendy has claimed £175 on expenses in buying toy buses for Boris Johnson, it has emerged.
It is believed that he bought five £34.99 Corgi models of the Mayor’s new Routemaster bus and his expenses reveal that he claimed £800 on taxis between September 15 and December 31 last year.
The figures were released after a Freedom of Information Act request by MayorWatch, the independent body which examines mayoral spending.
They show he used taxis nearly 400 times over the last three years in a £17,000 expenses bill that included magazine subscriptions, meals and internet use.
“Public money spent on toy bus presents for the Mayor of London may keep him happy, but for most Londoners it shows poor judgment and a further waste of public money on this mayoral vanity project,” said Lib-Dem London Assembly member Caroline Pidgeon.
A TfL spokesman said: “We bought models of the New Bus for London from Corgi so that the Mayor could use them as gifts for visiting dignitaries and to promote investment in London during his foreign trips.”
He added that Sir Peter needed to take taxis occasionally because of “his full schedule and late hours” that he worked.
