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Radio 1 chief spent £500 on clothes for Comic Relief Kilimanjaro climb
Sri Carmichael and Amar Singh12 Nov 2009
Andy Parfitt, the controller of Radio 1, charged taxpayers nearly £550 for equipment he used while raising money for charity.
Parfitt, who lists running outdoors as one of his hobbies in Who's Who, claimed £541.83 for “specialist clothing” and other “essentials” to help him climb Mount Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief in March, alongside celebrities including Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles and singer Cheryl Cole.
The executive, whose pay package is worth £218,800, also claimed £26.20 for taxis to pick up his mountain equipment.
Parfitt's boss, BBC director-general Mark Thompson, made 63 expense claims for parking meter charges as low as 70p. The head of the corporation, whose annual remuneration totals £834,000, scrupulously accounted for parking refunds — the most expensive being £3.20. He also spent £647.50 of public money on one night's stay at a five-star Las Vegas hotel.
Mr Thompson stayed at the Bellagio, which describes itself as the home of “contentment and opulence”, on 8 January while attending the Consumer Electrical Show conference. In total, he billed £3,364 in expenses for claims processed between April and June this year. These included £253.48 making “urgent business calls” from a hotel on 10 January.
The expenses disclosures reveal that many BBC executives regularly use taxis, notching up bills totalling several hundred pounds in just three months.
Caroline Thomson, the corporation's chief operating officer who receives a £413,000 pay package, took more than 100 taxis from April to June, costing a total of £3,479.72. She spent £247.65 on three minicabs on 8 April alone.
A BBC spokesman said: “It isn't always feasible for senior managers to use public transport. Not only does a taxi afford the opportunity to maximise their journey time but public transport doesn't afford confidentiality or accessibility if it is suddenly required during the course of the journey.”
Another added: “Andy climbed Mount Kilimanjaro with Chris Moyles and Fearne Cotton — for the Comic Relief climb, which raised over £3.5 million — earlier this year.
“Andy provided technical support (he is a trained radio operator) to enable Chris to broadcast from the mountain each day.
“The specialist clothing was essential kit for the climb, taking into account the conditions that Andy would be facing.”
