I have only ever taken one taxi home from a Haringey council meeting. I hadarrived by public transport, but there is no direct public transport routehome from Wood Green. So I asked reception to order a cab for me when mymeeting finished.

When the cab arrived home at my door, I asked how much I owed. The driverturned to me and said ‘No! There’s no need to pay – it’s on account.” “But Idon’t want it on account – I want to pay” I replied.

“I can’t take money” the cabbie said, “This has never happened before.”A battle ensued, which ended with him calling his head office and eventuallygetting permission for me to pay him. It certainly made me wonder what anearth was going on with the use of taxis from Haringey Town Hall. Pursuingthe matter, I discovered that if the cabbie comes for “Cllr so and so”, itis automatically on account and the councillor does not pay, unless – as Idid – they absolutely insist.

Of course, into the middle of this situation, arrives Cllr Lord Toby Harris,ex-leader of Haringey Council, with his taxi bill for £15,062. He has obviously notbeen as persuasive as myself in getting the cabbie to let him pay his fare!Now my small fledgling pursuit will be followed by a bigger pursuit, Ihope, by the District Auditor.

Haringey Council’s profligacy with our council tax money is in contrast withthe much clearer and explicit rules used by the Greater London Authority. Inthe four months since my election to the GLA, I have taken only four, maybefive, taxis. All of those, bar one, were shared with other GLA members goingto the same meetings. GLA members must use public transport whereverpossible, and all journeys by taxi are carefully recorded so that it is easyto check the rules are being followed.

At the end of the first year of accounts of the GLA, I would expect allMembers’ expenses to be scrutinised and audited rigorously. Standards inpublic life are paramount. Sadly, all this is very different from the recordof Haringey Council.

Whilst the District Auditor is investigating Lord Harris’s expenses, I hopehe has a close look at Labour Haringey’s part in this business. To date, theLabour leader, Cllr George Meehan, has supported Toby Harris to the hilt,refusing to criticise him and leaving it to others to raise the issues, askthe questions and call in the District Auditor.

We cannot judge Toby Harris’s guilt or otherwise – that must rest with theDistrict Auditor. But we can, without doubt, point the finger of blame atLabour Haringey for doing nothing to ensure that measures were in place toprevent abuse or that monitoring was in place to catch such abuse.

As usual, Labour Haringey are acting too late and doing too little. Horseand stable door are the words that spring to mind. Now they are setting up apanel to look into Members’ expenses. Pity it cost Haringey taxpayers somuch before Labour were forced to do the right thing.

(c) Lynne Featherstone, 2000