Meet the councillor with the 'twice round the world' miles claim

A SCOTTISH councillor is at the centre of a £26,000 expenses row after claiming enough mileage in two years to have driven twice around the globe.

North Lanarkshire councillor Charles Cefferty claimed back 54,000 miles in work-related car travel between April 2006 and April 2008, four times higher than any other member representing the same ward.

Last year alone, Cefferty claimed mileage worth £16,000 – higher than his £15,000 salary – and thought to be the highest of any councillor in Scotland.

Cefferty, the head of the Orange Lodge in central Scotland and owner of a pub in Falkirk, last night insisted he is a hard-working councillor, spending up to 13 hours a day on constituency visits, and that local people know him as someone they could turn to.

But fellow councillors said they were shocked by the claims. Council figures show that the two other councillors who represent his ward, James Robertson and Malcolm McMillan, charged £4,173 and £1,876 respectively last year. At one point, Cefferty was asked by officials for an explanation of his "abnormally high" mileage and was allowed to continue after explaining he worked long hours and had a large area to cover.

Local Tory MSP Margaret Mitchell is unimpressed by levels of scrutiny at the council. She said: "This shows that there needs to be far more robust checks in place within local government over expenses. They now exist in the Scottish Parliament but there is no real scrutiny being placed on councils. This needs to be looked at and examined properly."

Scotland on Sunday obtained Cefferty's mileage claims under Freedom of Information legislation. They show he usually totted up 90 miles a day, charging the standard 49 pence per mile. However, during a three-month spell last summer the forms show Cefferty claimed exactly 220 miles every working day. Each entry states the same reason, that Cefferty was engaged in "constituency work", "visits", "meetings", or on trips to the civic centre.

One North Lanarkshire councillor said: "It's fair to say when we saw Charlie's claims, there were a few eyebrows raised to put it mildly. I saw the fact he had claimed £16,000 last year and went 'what!?'"

The records show that last summer, when Cefferty was claiming costs for 220 miles a day, council officials decided to query Cefferty. One official noted: "Spoken to Councillor Cefferty about his abnormally high mileage. Says he has a large area to cover and is working 13 hours a day." Having received this explanation, the council continued to pay out.

When a Scotland on Sunday reporter approached Cefferty outside his pub in Falkirk, he initially denied who he was and got back into his £30,000 BMW 5 series. Changing his mind, he said: "I have nothing to hide. I have a lot of miles because I do lots of house visits – that's a brand new car, and it's done 7,000 miles in three months. I am renowned for the amount of work I do.

"My ward was enlarged to three times the size in May last year, and since then everybody wants to speak to you. They phone up all the councillors and play them one against each other, and I want to be there first.

"I only do the work that I do and I don't claim for anything outwith the work I do. In the past I have claimed probably 40% less than the miles I do."

Cefferty said much of his mileage was due to journeys to and from his home to the North Lanarkshire Civic Centre, Motherwell, a round trip he claims 32 miles for. A Scotland on Sunday reporter and photographer made the same journey, using the B7066 from the civic centre to the councillor's house in Harthill, and measured it as a 22-mile round trip.

Cefferty lives on a private road in the former coal mining village, which still has many miners' cottages. The North Lanarkshire boundary fence is opposite his newly built bungalow. Cefferty's second car, a Peugeot 106, is in the driveway.

He said he stacks up so many miles because he works "in the daytime, at weekends, and even in the early hours of the morning". He said: "When I do my house visits it's not a milk round – you can't see people in one particular area all together. I'm a reactive councillor so I go where I'm needed.

"I'm in the civic centre most evenings because I have got peace and quiet there, but I don't go to all the meetings because sometimes you are more productive by doing constituency work. I'm a constituency councillor."

Cefferty added that being a councillor was a full-time job for him – despite owning a pub in Falkirk with his wife. "My wife runs the pub and I am a partner in that pub. I have to have an income – it's only recently they have started to pay councillors properly. My car isn't paid by the council, it's paid for by my business.

"I don't get involved in council politics for any self-gain – I get driven by what's happening in the community. That's why I get re-elected. If wee Jeannie needs something done, Charlie Cefferty goes and does it."

But Cefferty said he would try to cut down on his mileage. He said: "I am going to try and have better time management and work from home more in my office, because at the moment I don't have any spare time."

John O'Hagan, executive director of Corporate Services, North Lanarkshire Council, said: "Councillors' expenses are subject to regular and periodic audits as part of the normal internal and external audit arrangements. Beyond publishing annually the details of such expenses the council would not consider it appropriate to comment on individual claims."