Edinburgh councillor Lezley Cameron claimed £1,500 in taxi fares
- Published
Ms Cameron has promised to repay the cost of personal journeys
Edinburgh Council's vice finance chief has been criticised after claiming back almost £1,500 of taxi fares.
Lezley Marion Cameron's trips represent 23% of the authority's £6,524 councillors' taxi bill since May 2017.
The claims include trips to the cinema, although Ms Cameron insisted these were connected to her council role.
Ms Cameron, the authority's vice convener of finance and resources, said she would pay back costs for any personal journeys.
She said she sometimes used taxis for reasons of health or personal safety, if she was running late or if asked to attend an event at short notice.
The Labour councillor charged taxpayers for 80 separate trips in the space of a year including more than 50 to or from her home address.
Barrelhouse Bar and Grill
A freedom of information request revealed that as part of £695 spent on taxis in the 2018/19 financial year, Ms Cameron billed taxpayers for a taxi to her home from the Barrelhouse Bar and Grill.
She claimed for a trip to the cinema at Fountainbridge, a return journey to the Vue cinema at the Omni Centre and a return trip to a Labour meeting at the Jewel Social Club.
The councillor also charged for a £10 trip which started and ended at Cumberland Street.
Ms Cameron said the two cinema trips were for screenings of Outlaw King and Avengers Infinity War, which she said she attended on behalf of Film Edinburgh, connected to her council role.
She added: "I'll repay the personal trips. I will use a taxi if I'm running later or if I'm asked at short short notice to sub for a colleague. I don't know how personal ones have ended up on there.
"I'm one of the busiest councillors and I have a lot of meetings across the city both for constituents and as my role in the administration.
"On a strictly personal note, I have also used black cabs in the course of fulfilling my council duties when, for health reasons when driving or going by bus isn't an option and, given the variable and extensive hours of working. Sometimes for reasons of personal safety, I take a taxi."
The councillor has been selected to fight the next general election for the Edinburgh Pentlands constituency.
Ms Cameron said she sometimes took taxis for personal safety reasons
Cammy Day, City of Edinburgh Council deputy leader and Labour group leader, said: "I think there's a number of questions to be asked about taxis use - so we have asked for more information from senior officers.
"Anybody who uses taxis for personal reasons should not be charging the taxpayer for it. She has a responsible position within the administration and I'm sure she will do the right thing."
Opposition politicians have called for Ms Cameron to apologise.
Miles Briggs, Lothian MSP, said: "At a time when public finances are under such pressure this is clearly a flagrant misuse of taxpayers' money.
"Elected representatives are entitled to claim for genuine travel costs to meetings but attending party political meetings is not acceptable.
"This money could have been put to much better use to help a variety of causes - opposed to councillor Cameron using it for her own personal life.
"I hope Councillor Cameron will apologise and the money which has been wrongly claimed must be paid back to the council."
Neil Ross, Lib Dem finance spokesman, said: "Labour councillors are quick to talk about the need for fairer funding for the council.
"Yet here we have one of their own number claiming back public money for taxi trips to the cinema.
"I think councillors have a duty to act responsibly and remember that every penny spent on travel is money not being allocated to core public services."