McLetchie admits 'Taxigate' trips to dentist

DAVID McLetchie, the former Tory leader, yesterday admitted claiming almost £300 in travel expenses to which he was not entitled.

Mr McLetchie published a list of the journeys he has taken over the past five years for which he should not have claimed expenses, and paid back the 293.74 to the parliament.

Among the trips made "in error" were 11 visits to his dentist in Montgomery Street, two trips to see his doctor and six party functions, including one in Perth and one in Glasgow.

The list also included one taxi journey to the Ravelston home of Lady Biddulph, on 8 November 2002, and three to the Newington home of a former legal client in July and September 2002. George Reid, the Presiding Officer, accepted Mr McLetchie's refund and said he did not believe any further action would be necessary.

Mr McLetchie, who resigned at the end of October after discrepancies were found in his taxi claims, will hope that his admission will bring the saga over his expenses to an end.

He said: "I take full responsibility for the errors and mistakes made in relation to these claims and express my sincere apologies both to the parliament and the wider Scottish public."

Mr McLetchie has already paid back 256.69 for a flight he took to the Conservative conference in Bournemouth in 2002 and a taxi to a party event in Selkirk the following year.

The 293.74 paid back yesterday takes the total repaid by the Edinburgh Pentlands MP to the parliament to 550.43.

Mr McLetchie had been under increasing pressure all year over his taxi claims as more and more evidence emerged of taxi receipts to destinations in Edinburgh and around Scotland which did not appear connected to parliamentary business.

MSPs are only allowed to charge travel expenses to the parliament for constituency or parliamentary business and Mr McLetchie, a partner in legal firm Tods Murray, took dozens of taxies to Queen Street, where his law firm was based.

As the controversy escalated, questions were raised about other taxi journeys taken by Mr McLetchie, including at least one to the home of the prominent party activist, Lady Sian Biddulph, and several others to the address of the former legal client of Mr McLetchie - none of which appeared to be for parliamentary or constituency business.

Writing to Mr Reid to explain the errors, he stated: "The review has been made more difficult because, as part of the preparation for the move to Holyrood, a lot of historic files and records were scrapped and I do not have all my appointment diaries for the years in question.

"Moreover, a considerable number of receipts do not have full journey details and some invoices submitted to the parliament by contractor taxi companies do not have an accompanying statement of journeys.

"Within these limitations I am as satisfied as I can be that the rest of the claims fall within the rules and, as you will appreciate, I am anxious to resolve this matter. This whole affair has been both debilitating and a major distraction from the job I was elected to do."

Where to exactly? The 24 trips

THE 24 journeys claimed for came to a total of 293.74.

They included 44.37 return mileage between Edinburgh and Perth in August 2001 for a party conference, the same sum for the same journey for a candidate policy conference in February 2003, and a 17.20 rail journey from Edinburgh to Glasgow for a party conference in March 2003.

The remaining 21 journeys were all taxi trips in Edinburgh.

Eleven were trips to the dentist in Montgomery Street.

Two were trips to a doctor, and one was a 6 journey to Skipper's restaurant in Leith for a private dinner in July 2001.

Four trips - three from parliament to an address in East Newington Place in 2002, and one from Mr McLetchie's home to Edinburgh Airport in June 2004 - were described as "personal".