Fireman spends £27,000 on business flights

Fireman spends £27,000 on business flights. Austerity measures?

A council has apologised after a single fire officer spent £27,000 in two years on business class flights.8:35AM BST 28 Oct 2011Figures obtained by the Taxpayers' Alliance revealed that Lincolnshire County Council spent more than £42,000 on overseas flights for its officers between April 2009 and March 2011.
Of this, £26,768 related to former chief fire officer Mike Thomas, who took trips to the US, Canada, Japan and New Zealand to attend search and rescue training programmes on business class tickets - then charged them back to the council.

Yesterday (THURS) Tony McArdle, council chief executive, admitted mistakes had been made and steps had been taken to address them.He said: "Around 75 per cent of these flights were booked by Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue. The majority were for one individual in his work with groups aiming to improve firefighter safety at an international level."Regrettably, one senior fire and rescue officer often travelled at business class, contrary to the council's rules.