Cardiff council spent tens of thousands of pounds for the Lord Mayor to be driven to official engagements over the last year. A freedom of information (FOI) request revealed that the council spent £21,321 on costs relating to relief chauffeurs in 2022/23. The council spent £7,410 on the same thing in 2021/22.
The FOI also revealed that the council spent £7,332 in 2021/22 and £9,920 in 2022/23 on vehicle hire/leasing for the mayoral car from 2021 to 2023. This includes maintenance charges such as servicing, MOT and tyres. Cardiff council has defended the amount spent on transporting the Lord Mayor, currently Councillor Graham Hinchey, saying the figures being quoted in the FOI response represent a tiny fraction of the council’s overall net annual budget.
A spokesperson for Cardiff Council said: “In line with the local authority’s commitment to sustainable transport, and for Cardiff to become a net zero carbon city, the Lord Mayor’s car is now an electric vehicle, having made the switch in July, 2022. In 2021/22, the number of official engagements for the Lord Mayor, and therefore the use of the official car, dropped significantly to 96, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
