£15.8 Million Annual Taxi Spend Ends in Partial Ban
250-mile GP trips and £1,000 daily runs prompt February restrictions amid rising hotel use
Home Office bans most asylum taxi use after £15.8m yearly waste exposed, but surging applications, backlogs, and hotel numbers reveal systemic asylum failures persisting across governments. Taxpayers foot bills for policy inertia.
A BBC probe uncovered asylum seekers taking 250-mile taxi rides to GPs at £600 a pop, with firms logging £1,000 daily for two-mile hotel-to-surgery runs.
Home Office data confirms £15.8 million yearly on such transport. The new ban from February restricts taxis to “exceptional circumstances” like disabilities, pushing public buses instead.
This targets symptoms, not causes.
Waste Embedded in Hotel Reliance
36,273 asylum seekers occupy hotels as of September 2025, up from June despite pledges to phase them out by 2029.
Hotels cluster in southern England, straining local services while HMOs fill northern sites. Daily taxi drop-offs from one southeast London hotel alone burned £1,000.
Drivers report systemic abuse: 110-mile detours from Gatwick to Reading for 1.5-mile dentist trips, or 275-mile empty runs.
Backlogs Fuel the Cycle
110,051 asylum applications arrived from October 2024 to September 2025, up 13% year-on-year.
First-decision backlog fell 39% to 80,841, but appeals backlog doubled to 50,976. Total: over 130,000 unresolved claims, with 44% initial grants and 45% appeal successes.
Housing demands persist for years.
Refugee status now becomes temporary under Labour reforms, ending guaranteed support. Yet 108,085 remain in state accommodation.
Contracts Bind Successive Governments
Shabana Mahmood blames “expensive Conservative contracts,” but costs escalated under Labour too.
Recovery of £74 million signals waste scale, yet hotels grew. Break clauses exist, but demand alternative sites like military bases—delayed in rollout.
Opposition demands deportations and ECHR exit; Labour opts for reviews.
Public Pays for Policy Paralysis
Taxi curbs save pennies against asylum system’s billions. Net migration hit 944,000 recently, with small boats fueling claims.
Ordinary taxpayers fund detours while thresholds freeze adds £220 yearly burdens. Functional governance would shrink inflows, clear backlogs, end hotels outright.
This episode exposes migration machinery’s inertia.
Hotels multiply, taxis detour, backlogs swell—regardless of party. Britain warehouses claimants in wasteful limbo, eroding control and finances alike. The ban tweaks a leaking dam while floods rise unchecked.
Commentary based on Government to ban asylum seekers from using taxis at BBC News.