Council slammed for £77K splurge on chaffeurs for mayor

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

A council spent more than £77,000 in three years on chauffeurs for the mayor.

Southwark council splurged the cash on hundreds of trips between 2019 and 2022, a freedom of information (FOI) request revealed.

Most of the journeys were made between addresses within Southwark, but other trips were made in Berkshire and London boroughs, including Hounslow and Westminster.

Hounslow-based S7 Chauffeurs was the service of choice for Southwark’s mayors between 2019 and 2020.

The company boasts of providing customers with “the ultimate standard in luxury, comfort and service”.

According to its website, its fleet includes luxury vehicles, including a Rolls Royce and Bentley Mulsanne, as well as a Mercedes S-class, Range Rover and Audi A8.

Victor Chamberlain, leader of the council’s Liberal Democrat opposition branded the amount spent on chauffeurs “alarming.”

Cllr Chamberlain, member for Borough and Bankside, said: “During this cost of living crisis, the council must do everything it can to make savings and ensure money is spent where it’s needed most. That’s why it is alarming to see so much being spent on the mayor’s chauffeur service in the past few years.”

Southwark council said the chauffeur service was used to transport the mayor and their assistant to special occassions and official events.

The borough had two different mayors between April 2019 and March 2022.

Sandra Rhule, who is also Labour councillor for Nunhead and Queen’s Road served as mayor from 2019 until 2020. She was replaced by Cllr Barrie Hargove, Labour member for Peckham, who held the position until May 2022.

In the 12 months until the Covid-19 pandemic struck in Spring 2020, the council splurged £35,000 on the chauffeur service.

The council ended up spending a comparatively modest £8,352 on trips in the year from April 2020 to March 2021.

But with the gradual abandoning of lockdown restrictions, the amount Southwark spent on chauffeurs ballooned to just under £34,000 in 2022, slightly below its pre-pandemic peak.

In February, the Labour-led council agreed to cut £50,000 from the mayor’s £70,000 yearly transport budget by limiting use of the chauffeur service to “key civic events,” instead of “all mayoral engagements.”

A Southwark council spokesperson said: “The money spent on the mayoral car is historic. The car was used mostly for transporting the mayor and his or her assistant with the very heavy, and valuable, mayoral livery to special occasions and official events.

“Since then, accepting that high private transport costs are not the best use of public money – particularly during the cost of living crisis, we have significantly reduced the budget for the mayor’s transport from £60,000 to £7,500 – this is currently out to tender for a new contractor.”

Pictured top: Southwark Council’s headquarters (Picture: Google Street View)