London Mayor reveals TfL’s biggest taxi and private hire fare in 2018

Kings Cross to Spalding anyone?

What do you think was the biggest taxi or private hire fare regulators Transport for London paid for in 2018?

Conservative Assembly Member Susan Hall asked that exact question to the London Mayor Sadiq Khan.  

The mayor responded by saying” “The longest and most expensive taxi journey that Transport for London could locate on its January to November 2018 invoices (the December invoice is not available yet) was booked on 14 June with a distance of 122.34 miles and a cost of £520.88 excluding VAT. 

“This was a booked special taxi (not a regular scheduled taxi) and is an exceptional trip linked to service disruption following a displaced conductor rail incident at Seven Sisters (this incident meant that a customer had missed their last connection to Spalding).

“Although the customer could have got to Peterborough by train she would have then missed their connecting train to Spalding. London Underground was not able to book taxis from Peterborough to get the customer to Spalding as her final destination, therefore the taxi had to be booked from Kings Cross. “TfL has tightened its processes since this incident by adding a requirement to refer such matters to the Senior Operating Officer before a final decision is taken as to the appropriate action. This should avoid any such similar situations from happening in the future.”