ASYLUM seekers will be banned from using taxis for most medical journeys, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has announced.

The Government said the new rules will restrict taxi use for medical travel to exceptional, evidence-based cases such as physical disability, pregnancy or serious illness.

Any such journey would require Home Office approval.

The decision follows a recent BBC investigation that found “widespread” use of taxis by asylum seekers, including for long journeys.

Taxi drivers have said the system was open to “abuse”, accusing sub-contractors of inflating mileage, for instance by dispatching drivers over long distances to perform much shorter journeys.

One told Radio 4’s Today programme he had been dispatched from Gatwick to take an asylum seeker in Reading to an appointmen

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