TfL bosses pick up £625 tab for taxi to take passenger on 120-mile journey home after she missed the last train…even though she could have taken £30 cab by catching service to the next nearest station

• Tube bosses paid £625 for a taxi after a train fault meant woman missed her train
• A woman wanted a train to Peterborough in time for the last Lincolnshire service 
• Staff booked a £625 taxi for the entire two-and-a-half hour trip from King’s Cross
• But she could have caught a train to Peterborough and then a £30 cab home

Generous Tube bosses splashed out £625 for a taxi to take a passenger 120 miles home after a fault on the Victoria line meant she missed her train.

And although the unnamed woman could have caught a train to Peterborough and then taken a £30 cab to her home in Spalding, Lincolnshire, staff booked a taxi for the entire two-and-a-half hour trip from King’s Cross. 

They said they were ‘unable’ to arrange a car from Peterborough.

This map shows the £625 taxi journey in red, compared to the £30 trip highlighted in blue. Staff booked a taxi for the entire two-and-a-half hour trip from King’s Cross. They said they were ‘unable’ to arrange a car from Peterborough

The woman had intended to catch a train to Peterborough in time for the last local service to Spalding – but missed it due to the problems on the Tube. A fault on the Victoria line meant she missed her train [File photo]

Details of the journey, in June last year, emerged as London Mayor Sadiq Khan released figures showing Transport for London spent more than £3.5million on taxis in 2017/18. 

He called it ‘an exceptional trip linked to severe service disruption’.

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The woman had intended to catch a train to Peterborough in time for the last local service to Spalding – but missed it due to the problems on the Tube.

Most of the £3,587,031 was spent on collecting early morning Tube staff from home and bringing them into work. 

The unnamed woman could have caught a train to Peterborough and then taken a £30 cab to her home in Spalding, Lincolnshire [File photo]

But Susan Hall, deputy leader of the Greater London Authority’s Conservatives, said the bill was ‘a kick in the teeth for Londoners contending with rammed Tube carriages and rising season ticket prices’.

TfL is £200million in the red this financial year and is not expected to break even until 2022/23. 

A spokesman said: ‘We have reviewed our policy on special taxis.’

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