Fury erupted after an asylum seeker living in a taxpayer-funded hotel said he was told to take a £600 250mile taxi journey to see a knee consultant.
The migrant crisis has alarmed the British public (Image: Getty)
Shabana Mahmood has ordered an urgent review into migrants being offered taxi rides.
Fury erupted after an asylum seeker living in a taxpayer-funded hotel said he was told to take a £600 250mile taxi journey to see a knee consultant.
Iraqi migrant Kadir had been moved to a different hotel – but was not offered the option to travel by public transport.
Hotel staff booked cars on an automated system if residents could provide proof of an upcoming appointment, such as a GP visit.
Taxpayers are being forced to shell out millions, with accommodation providers also providing many of the taxi journeys.
Describing the ludicrous taxi situation, Kadir said: “Should the Home Office give me the ticket for the train? This is the easy way, and they know they spend too much money.
“We know as well, but we don’t have any choice. It’s crazy.”
A Home Office spokeswoman said: “The Home Secretary has asked the department to urgently look into the use of taxis to transfer asylum seekers.”
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp, said: “Every £600 taxi ride for migrants is money that should be paying for British patients to see their GP or for ambulances to turn up on time.
“This is why people feel the system is rigged against them.
“Labour are writing a blank cheque for illegal immigration while services for hard-working families are strained.”
Asylum accommodation provider Clearsprings Ready Homes hired PTS-247 for migrant transport in the South and Wales.
But PTS-247 is suing Clearsprings over £2.75million in unpaid invoices.
Clearsprings claims PTS-247 “has consistently failed to provide evidence of journeys it has taken”.
And a former manager at Serco, which provides asylum accommodation in North West England, said migrants took taxis almost every day.
Some invented appointments for lifts to town or nights out, he said.
Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he agreed that there should be an investigation into how the system works.
“I’m not surprised that this was a feature that caught people’s eye”, he said.
Shocking Home Office figures revealed there are some 32,059 migrants still living in hotels.
This is up 8% from 29,585 in the year to June 2024.
And the issue has been drawn into even sharper focus after the Home Office appealed against a High Court migrant hotel closure order.
Mohammed, from Afghanistan, admitted he had agreed to work illegally before he had even arrived in the UK.
His cousin helped him to secure work for £20 a day.
He told the BBC he had no choice because his family owes money to people traffickers.
One security guard at one of the hotels said: ‘You’ve got nothing to occupy these guys. So of course they’re going to go out there and work.’
Kadir admitted he would rather risk a fire in his hotel room than eat the free hotel restaurant food.
He dismisses that as “chips and chicken nuggets” and says hotel residents have complained it makes them feel ill.
Kadir added: “Everybody, they’re cooking in their rooms like this,” claims Kadir. “We all do it, but we do it undercover.”
