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Oi! Lord Mayor! Get the bus!

Coming to a bus near you?

Taxpayers' pressure group wants Exeter's civic head to give up the BMW

Exeter's Lord Mayor should give up the posh car and get the bus, according to a right-wing pressure group. 

 

The Taxpayers' Alliance says luxury vehicles used by civic figureheads waste money that could otherwise be spent on pot-holes and care homes. They've just issued a Freedom of Information request to councils and found that, on average, they spend £21,000 a year on the vehicle for mayors, lord mayors and their equivalents. That includes fuel and maintenance as well as the cost of financing the car.

 

They claim most people will be astounded that, in an age of austerity, civic leaders revel in such luxury. The Lord Mayor of Exeter, Councillor Rob Hannaford, attends events in a BMW 5-Series hybrid, after the 14 year-old gas-guzzling Rover enjoyed by his predecessors was deemed to be reaching the end of the road. It was sold for £2,200 last year. Taxypayers' Alliance spokesperson Chloe Westley says he should get the bus or use his own car, like normal people do when they go to work. For some civic duties, she concedes, a taxi could be used too. 

 

On average, Exeter's Lord Mayor's vehicle is used for 500 civic functions a year. So even at, say, £10 per taxi ride, that would be a considerable saving on the average mayor's car. But would people like to see their Lord Mayor, in the gold chains and feathered hat, turn up to receptions on the bus? Wouldn't that be like the Queen ditching the gold state coach and waiting at the bus stop to go to Harry's wedding?

 

"That's a completely different [funding] model," claims Ms Westley. "If you ask them, most people want the streets cleaned, police funded, pot holes filled and better social care; that's what they pay their council tax for. They don't want their mayor - and these are just local politicians - driving around in a Bentley, Mercedes S-Class, or Lexus."

 

 

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