The BBC is set to spend up to £63million on taxis for programme guests and staff - equivalent to 361,000 Britons paying their TV licence fee.
The figure will fund a round-the-clock taxi service for employees, on-air contributors and equipment under a five-year contract.
The contracts, advertised on a Government website, have been split in two, with the first being for "ride-hail" app-based taxi bookings costing an estimated £42,600,000 including VAT.
The second is a pre-booked service across the UK and internationally, worth around £20,400,000 including VAT.
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The contracts will run between July 1, 2027, and June 30, 2030, though there is a possibility of extension to 2032.
The total projected spend of £63million is the equivalent sum to 361,000 Britons paying their annual licence fee at £174.50 a year.
Shimeon Lee, policy analyst at The TaxPayers’ Alliance, said, according to The Sun: “It’s a perfect example of how the BBC treats licence fee-payers’ money as an open tab.
“While households are struggling to cover energy bills and food costs, the BBC is lining up app-based ride-hailing and international chauffeured travel for its own staff.
The planned taxi service contract is set to run for five years
|PA
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"These perks should be scrapped, and so should the licence fee.”
The BBC said the £63million figure is the "maximum potential value" and therefore "not the final cost".
The broadcaster said in a statement: "This contract will cover global taxi services for both the BBC’s public service and commercial arm, including transport for staff, productions, contributors and equipment.
"We have strict guidelines in place around the use of taxis and when their use is and isn’t acceptable.
Licence fee on the rise: How much does the TV licence cost? | GB NEWS"The figure quoted is the maximum potential value of the contract over a five-year period, not the final cost."
The BBC revealed in its annual plan for 2025/26 that its annual income had fallen by £1billion in real terms compared with 2010, in March last year.
The broadcaster is predominately funded through the licence fee, paid by UK TV-watching households, which is expected to rise to around £181 from April.
The BBC has faced disruption in recent months following resignations from top executives and a lawsuit from US president Donald Trump, who is seeking up to $10billion (£7.5billion) in damages in response to the editing of a speech he made before the 2021 attack on the Capitol that was featured in a Panorama episode.
The US President's lawyers claim the editing was “false and defamatory”.
BBC News previously reported that lawyers for the broadcaster had given a lengthy response to the president’s claims before Mr Trump filed the lawsuit and said “there was no malice in the edit and that Trump was not harmed by the programme, as he was re-elected shortly after it aired”.
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