Sadiq Khan accused of letting Transport for London waste tens of millions of pounds

Sadiq Khan has been accused of letting Transport for London waste tens of millions of pounds on taxis, water coolers and vending machines.

The Tories lashed out at the London Mayor for failing to be ‘careful’ with taxpayer’s cash as he seeks billions of pounds in bailouts from the government.

Mr Khan has demanded a £5.65billion bailout to keep trains, Tubes and buses going for the next 18 months after he claimed ticket sales have declined by 90 per cent.

It comes just two months after he was given another £1.6billion for the capital’s transport network.

But Tory mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey insisted Mr Khan should be tackling his own budgets before seeking huge sums from the government.

He highlighted a series of ‘wasteful’ TfL contracts worth more than £40million.  

One with Lavazza Professional for vending machines is worth between £1million and £5 million over a decade, according to the Conservative campaign. 

Another 10-year deal with BWT UK to provide water coolers across the TfL estate is estimated to cost the same. 

Meanwhile, a five-year contract with Radio Taxi Group to provide taxis for staff, due to expire in 2021, is said to be worth £24 million. 

TfL also has a four-tear contract valued between £5million and £10million with polling company Ipsos Mori to provide Mystery Shopping Surveys to ‘drive decision-making and develop customer strategy’, Mr Bailey’s aides said.  

Mr Bailey said: ‘After a government bailout and endless claims of budget shortages, Sadiq Khan might have learned to be more careful with taxpayers’ money. 

‘Instead of spending £24million on taxis for TfL staff or £5million on water coolers, we should be using taxpayers’ money to make our transport network safer.

‘As Mayor, I’ll cut the £50million of waste and use the savings to make TfL safer, investing in things like body scanners for every major railway station.’

But a London Labour spokeswoman said: ‘Sadiq has spent four years cleaning up the financial mess left by Boris Johnson – which left TfL losing nearly £1.5billion a year. 

‘Under Sadiq, TfL has reduced its operating deficit by 71 per cent and increased its cash reserves by 13 per cent. 

‘We will take no lessons on sound financial management from the party that wasted £50million on the Garden Bridge.’