Welcome onboard the £18million BBC gravy train (and taxi and hotel!): Disbelief at huge amount blown on transport and accommodation in just three years as costs rise
The BBC paid £18 million on trains, taxis and hotels in just three years.
Kemi Badenoch reacted with disbelief at the eye-watering figure spent on staff and contributors, as the Tory leader said: ‘I’m not sure how they managed to spend that much.’
The multi-million pound spend, equivalent to 100,000 license fee payers, has increased by 30 per cent since 2022. This figure LBC.
A 25-kilometre taxi ride from Ruislip to central London cost the company £288; The most expensive journey from Salford to Oxford was billed to the publisher at £484.
Rail travel spending reached £2.8m in the 2024/25 financial year, a 16 per cent increase in hotel costs.
Ms Badenoch said ‘if taxpayers have to tighten their belts then so should everyone else’.
‘Whether it’s the BBC or government departments, it’s taxpayers who pay for these services,’ he said.
A spokesman for the BBC said that ‘we will inevitably incur travel costs’ as the broadcaster is a 24-hour media organisation.
The BBC spent £18 million on trains, taxis and hotels in just three years (Pictured BBC headquarters in London)
‘Increasing prices in recent years in the travel and accommodation sectors, which are affected by increasing inflation, pose a challenge for many businesses,’ they said.
‘We continue to pay attention to how money is spent and have policies in place to ensure this is proportionate and appropriate.
It comes as BBC bosses face ‘serious questions’ over how they handled an internal report on impartiality, with the BBC accused of ‘spreading Hamas lies around the world’.
The report, sent to BBC director-general Tim Davie and chairman Samir Shah last month, plunged the company into a new crisis, with Ms Badenoch arguing ‘heads should roll’.
Pressure was mounting for Mr Davie to fall to his sword last night after a former senior BBC executive called on the top boss to pursue “three scandals too many”.
The note on neutrality states that the BBC chose to “minimise Israeli suffering” in the war in Gaza and “portray Israel as the aggressor” during the conflict.
It was stated that the company’s staff ‘rushed to the air’ to make allegations against Israel without adequate checks, and it was claimed that there was a ‘desire to always believe the worst about Israel’.
The report also found that BBC Arabic, which is part of the World Service, provided a platform for journalists who made extreme anti-Semitic comments.
A BBC spokesman said: ‘While we do not comment on leaked documents, when the BBC receives feedback it takes it seriously and considers it carefully.
‘Regarding BBC News Arabic, wherever mistakes were made or errors occurred, we acknowledged them in a timely manner and took action.
‘We have also previously acknowledged that certain contributors should not be used and have improved our processes to prevent this from happening again.’
The BBC was also criticized by the White House this week after an internal report revealed the broadcaster had rigged Donald Trump’s January 6 speech.
Michael Prescott, who served as an independent consultant at the company for three years before leaving last June, sent a dossier to the board last month after repeated warnings to the standards watchdog were ‘dismissed or ignored’.
The 19-page document, obtained by the Daily Telegraph, sent shockwaves through the highest levels of British politics.
The BBC, which is funded by UK taxpayers, has also been accused of widespread bias in its reporting, ranging from anti-Israeli comments about the Gaza war to ‘censorship’ of transgender debates.
Prescott described how the BBC, often described as the world’s ‘most trusted’ broadcaster, ‘completely misled’ viewers in an episode of its Panorama programme, broadcast a week before the election, by showing the President telling his supporters he would march on the Capitol to ‘fight like hell’.
In fact, Trump said he would march with them ‘to make your voices heard in a peaceful and patriotic manner.’
“Trust in the media is at an all-time low due to deceptive regulation, misleading reporting and outright lies,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told The Daily Mail.
‘This is another of many examples that highlight why countless Americans turn to alternative media sources for news.’
The BBC added: ‘Michael Prescott is a former advisor to a board committee where differing views and opinions on our news are routinely discussed.’
