ScotRail bosses have spent more than £200,000 on taxis for travellers after train services were cancelled since the service was taken into public ownership, figures show.

On one occasion, the rail operator spent £798.30 to send an eight-seat taxi from Wick to Inverness, with the vehicle stopping at all train stations in between.

In July 2022, ScotRail’s taxi bill amounted to £29,845.38, with private hires used 230 times.

In May last year, 289 taxis were used at a total cost for the month of £27,405.06.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats obtained the figures using freedom of information to reveal details of the spending.

The party found the total amount spent on taxis to replace train services in the 10 months from April 2022 totalled £205,854.41 – the equivalent of more than £20,000 a month on private hire vehicles since the service was taken into public ownership.

Lib Dem transport spokeswoman Jill Reilly said: “This is an astonishing sum of money for newly nationalised ScotRail to have shelled out in less than a year since the Government took it over.

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