BBC criticised for £10m travel bill

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More than £3 million of this was spent on business or first class flights, according to figures released to the Liberal Democrats under the Freedom of Information Act.

Lib Dem transport spokesman Norman Baker said that at a time when the BBC should be doing all it could to give good value to fee-payers, the figures are "staggering".

He said: "The BBC's own guidelines say that flying business class should only happen in 'exceptional circumstances'. It is hard to believe that there can be £3 million-worth of exceptional circumstances in a single year.

"Licence fee-payers have a right to assume their money is not being splashed around frivolously. BBC bosses must make sure that, where possible, their staff use trains rather than planes and that when they must fly, they get the best value for money possible."

The BBC spent £10.4 million on flights from April 2007 to March 2008 - £3.1 million of which was spent on business or first class seats.

During 2006/07, the Corporation spent £10.8 million on flights, including £2.4 million on business and first class.

It spent just under £5 million on train tickets last year - about £520,000 of which were for first class travel. This total increased slightly from £4.8 million for the previous year.

A BBC spokesman said: "We reject these claims completely. Spend on flights is subject to rigorous scrutiny and has actually fallen significantly in the last year, reflecting our commitment to value for money."

"It is important to make clear this information includes flights by BBC Worldwide so it is completely misleading to suggest this is all money from the licence fee."