The chief medical officer faced fresh accusations of hypocrisy last night after it emerged she spent more than £3,000 on taxis in nine months.
Dame Sally Davies, nicknamed the country’s nanny-in-chief, has repeatedly urged the public to walk short distances to combat rising obesity.
Yet last year her taxpayer-funded taxi trips included journeys that would have taken her just 20 minutes on foot, leading to accusations she is ‘not practising what she preaches’.
Dame Sally Davies (pictured), nicknamed the country’s nanny-in-chief, has repeatedly urged the public to walk short distances to combat rising obesity
It comes after Dame Sally previously faced claims of hypocrisy for being pictured drinking after warning women that every drop of alcohol poses a breast cancer risk.
In total, Dame Sally claimed £24,650 on taxis, flights, chauffeur driven cars and rail tickets in the first nine months of last year.
Her business class flights included £4,556 for a trip to Tokyo and £5,273 for a trip to New York, followed by a £4,286 flight back to Edinburgh the following day.
The £210,000-a-year official’s taxi bill also sparked criticism due to her comments on diesel cars.
She clashed with motoring groups last year when she said diesels should be gradually taken off the streets to combat pollution – and boasted that her family had replaced their diesel car.
Yet her taxi bill shows she is happy to travel in London black cabs – almost all of which have diesel engines, and typically emit much more dangerous nitrogen oxides than family diesel cars.
Information released by the Department of Health following a Freedom of Information request shows Dame Sally took 139 cab trips in the first half of last year. This included 31 black cabs.
In total she claimed 174 cab trips in the first nine months of last year – costing the taxpayer £3,061. The revelation comes after NHS chief Simon Stevens – who never spends public money on taxis – told staff to take public transport and avoid travelling first class.
Dame Sally, 67, has regularly advised the nation to walk at every opportunity to stay healthy.
But on January 7 last year she made a £9 cab journey from the Department of Health’s headquarters in Whitehall to the plush Wolseley restaurant – just a 20-minute walk away in Mayfair.
In December the Mail revealed how Dame Sally billed just over £5,000 for cab trips and a chauffeur-driven car in 2015 – more than any other health service official. Pictured: Dame Sally leaving home in a taxi
In the same month she took a cab from the office of the Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency in Victoria to Millbank. It would have taken her 26 minutes to make the 1.3 mile trip on foot.
The revelations about Dame Sally’s habitual use of black cabs has angered motoring campaigners.
Howard Cox, of the FairFuelUK group, said: ‘Dame Sally called for diesels to be phased out, but … the nation’s chief medical officer is not coy in using more polluting black cabs when taxpayers are footing the bill.
‘Her hypocrisy shows how insincere these so called medical experts are, when they don’t practise what they preach.’
In December the Mail revealed how Dame Sally billed just over £5,000 for cab trips and a chauffeur-driven car in 2015 – more than any other health service official.
A DoH spokesman said: ‘Unlike her predecessors, Professor Davies does not have an official car so using taxis allows her to make best use of both her and the department’s time and she often works while on the way to other events. All her expenses are in line with civil service rules.’