Northumberland Council Spend £10 Million On School Taxis

30 October 2014, 11:25 | Updated: 30 October 2014, 12:26

A Heart News investigation's found Northumberland County Council have spent £20 million in the last two years on taxis and private hire vehicles getting children to school.

Figures obtained by Heart show that £10 million of that figure was on taxis alone.

The rest of the £10 million covers the costs of school buses, minibuses etc.

In a statement, the council told Heart,
"As the county is 5000 square km we have to transport children over large distances compared to some other authorities.

Also, one of the reasons we do use taxis is for transporting children with special educational needs as this is the often the most appropriate form of transport for them."

Nationally, it costs councils in England and Scotland £731,131,181.58 on taxis over the past two years.

The worst offender, Surrey County Council, spent a total of £58,611,555 on taxis, minibuses and private hire vehicles in 2012 and 2013 - though around £30 million of this was for Special Educational Needs pupils.

Private firms are being paid the money because so many children are having to travel miles from home to a school which wasn't their first choice.