The Scottish parliament’s presiding officer spent £42 of taxpayers’ money on a chauffeur-driven limousine for a journey of just one mile, according to figures released under the Freedom of Information Act.
Tricia Marwick MSP, who was elected as an SNP politician before becoming the parliament's speaker, expensed more than £14,000 worth of executive car journeys since 2011, including £326.40 on a return trip from her home in Fife to central Edinburgh to lay a wreath in memory of the war dead on Remembrance Sunday.
The presiding officer, who is the main user of the Scottish parliament's executive car service, twice used parliamentary funds worth £313 to pay for a taxi home from the annual Scottish Politician of the Year awards, where she watched Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond pick up prizes in 2012 and 2013.
Other claims include £305.76 of public money on a car taking her to a royal garden party at Holyrood Palace, plus £117 on a return taxi journey to watch the opening night of the Edinburgh military tattoo.
But perhaps the most impressive receipt was the £42.40 claimed for a journey from the Scottish parliament building to a commemoration service at Edinburgh Castle on 10 August 2014.
The equivalent journey in an Edinburgh black cab would cost approximately £3.80, according to local taxi firms. The journey along the Royal Mile could also be walked in just 20 minutes.
Marwick also claimed £100 for an executive car from Tweedbank, in the Borders, to Edinburgh on 9 September 2015. Ironically, she had been in Tweedbank to attend the official opening of the new Borders Railway line and help promote its use as an affordable direct public transport link from the town into central Edinburgh.
In total the presiding officer spent £14,143.20 on chauffeur-driven cars since 2011. Deputy presiding officer Elaine Smith also expensed £4,919.31 worth of taxi claims, while fellow deputy presiding officer John Scott claimed just £324.76 for taxis during the same same period.
The executive car service is controlled by the Scottish parliament and according to a 2014 tender document requires the operator to provide spacious vehicles that allow up to three people to "sit comfortably and carry out work" during a journey. The service is for the exclusive use of Marwick, her deputies, MSPs who are ill or incapacitated, and visiting VIPs.
A Scottish parliament spokesperson said: “Over her five-year term, the presiding officer has typically commuted by train from Fife to parliament.
"On occasion, when required to stay late at Holyrood on official duties, she will make use of the car service. Similarly, the deputy presiding officers, when representing the parliament, or on official duties at unsociable hours, may also make limited use of the car.”
The files also revealed two separate vehicles were dispatched to the airport on the same day to pick up representatives from the assemblies of Northern Ireland and Wales. A further £550 was spent during the visit of a Malawian politician.
Meanwhile, hundreds of pounds have been spent on limos between Edinburgh Airport and the city centre, a journey covered by the government’s billion-pound Edinburgh tram system. In September last year, nearly £400 was spent transporting a delegation of VIPs including House of Commons speaker John Bercow – himself criticised for taking expensive executive cars over short distances – from the airport to the city centre and back.