Urgent review ordered into asylum seeker taxi costs

The home secretary has ordered an urgent review into the use and cost of taxis to transfer asylum seekers from their hotels to appointments.

The move by Shabana Mahmood follows a BBC investigation that found some migrants having to travel long distances on journeys costing hundreds of pounds.

One asylum seeker told the BBC he had taken a 250-mile journey to visit a GP, with the driver telling him the cost to the Home Office was £600.

Asylum seekers are issued with a bus pass for one return journey per week, but for any other necessary travel, such as a doctors' appointment, taxis are called.

The BBC asked the government how much it spends on taxi travel for asylum seekers via a Freedom of Information Act request, but the Home Office said it does not keep these figures.

Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that he agreed that there should be an investigation.

"I'm not surprised that this was a feature that caught people's eye", he said.

On Tuesday, housing minister Matthew Maycock said it was "questionable" why asylum seekers needed to take such long taxi journeys and said the government would "look into those cases".

He added that asylum seekers were not "ordinary citizens just jumping on a bus".

The BBC went into four hotels housing asylum seekers, as part of its investigation, uncovering cramped living conditions, illegal working, and fire alarms covered with plastic bags, as residents had to cook meals over electric hobs in bathrooms.