Stop flying and use the train

Figures obtained by the Green Party group on the London Assembly reveal Met police officers make more than 2,100 return flights a year to other British cities.

Transport for London staff continue to use planes rather than trains in spite of Mayor Ken Livingstone's pledge to cut carbon emissions as part of his drive to address climate change.

Officials at TfL, which is chaired by Mr Livingstone, have clocked up 53 return flights within Britain since April. This puts TfL on course to top last year's 74 flights by the end of the financial year next April.

In the same period, TfL officials have taken 54 return flights to continental destinations where using Eurostar and onward train connections would take no more than nine hours.

The corresponding figure for the Met is 533 flights a year, taken as an average over the last five years.

Mr Livingstone has called for a ban on flights to European cities such as Paris and Brussels, saying they are an unaffordable luxury at a time of faster Eurostar services to the Continent from St Pancras. Jenny Jones of the Greens accused the Met of refusing to release an annual breakdown of its short-haul flights because it was "embarrassed" about its record.

She wants all bodies under the Mayor's control, which excludes the Met, to end the use of short-haul flights.

Ms Jones said: "We're going to ask the Mayor to call for a ban on the whole Greater London Authority family taking flights to Paris, Brussels and mainland Britain where there's no excuse for flying. It's worse for TfL because they really should know better. They're much more aware of sustainable issues and should have a clean slate."

The figures also show that City Hall politicians and officials have taken 45 return flights within Britain in the last four years. Of these, 25 were made by members or officers of the Assembly.

Last month an official and two Assembly members - Green Darren Johnson and Labour's Murad Qureshi - flew to Dublin to assess Ireland's plastic bag levy, which is being proposed for London. Using the train and ferry would have taken 14 hours each way.

Met Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said the force "remains dedicated" to reducing its carbon footprint where practical and affordable.

He said flights were cheaper than travelling by train and meant the time staff were away from work was kept to a minimum. The force also tried to book the cheapest flights available.

A TfL spokesman said: "We encourage our 21,500 staff to use the most sustainable transport and have recently revised our policy on staff travel to reduce the number of future flights. We offset the carbon emissions from all flights."