Britain's Home Office dropped around 15.8 million pounds yearly on taxi rides for asylum seekers before deciding to kill the program starting in February. People waiting on immigration decisions will need to catch buses instead, even when medical stuff gets urgent, and the government turned down requests for free transit passes despite campaigners pushing for years.
Contractors were apparently charging wild amounts like 600 quid for one dude's 250-mile trip to see a doctor, and another company billed roughly a thousand daily just shuttling people two miles between hotels and clinics. Officials claim taxis will only happen for extreme cases like disabilities or pregnancy complications, but advocacy groups worry the bar gets set unrealistically high.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood blamed Conservative contracts for burning billions and promised to end waste while moving asylum seekers out of hotels into military sites.
Contractors were apparently charging wild amounts like 600 quid for one dude's 250-mile trip to see a doctor, and another company billed roughly a thousand daily just shuttling people two miles between hotels and clinics. Officials claim taxis will only happen for extreme cases like disabilities or pregnancy complications, but advocacy groups worry the bar gets set unrealistically high.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood blamed Conservative contracts for burning billions and promised to end waste while moving asylum seekers out of hotels into military sites.
