Hospital bosses hire £550 minibus instead of £63 tube journey Bosses racked up the excessive bill while their hospitals were in crisis They hired a 16-seater minibus rather than take the Tube across town Chief executive Tony Halsall also lavished public money on flowers for staff The disgraced boss still draws his six-figure salary despite stepping down Bosses at a hospital trust with the highest mortality rate in England spend hundreds of pounds on two taxi trips across London. Tony Halsall, the disgraced chief executive at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay, and his board of directors took two minibuses costing the taxpayer £550 on a journey that could have cost as little as £63 each way on public transport. They were in the capital for a meeting with Monitor which oversees the Foundation status process. While there during the trip in April 2009 they stayed at the £200-a-night City Inn, Westminster. The cost of the taxi trip came from a return trip in a 16-seater minibus costing £275 each way. Had they taken the Victoria Line tube from Euston to Pimlico and walked the short distance to the hotel, it would have cost them a total of just £63 each way. The journey was taken before Mr Halsall was forced to step down as chief executive in 2012, after the trust was exposed as having the highest mortality rate in England. The matter sparked a police investigation into the trust's failings following the death of nine-day-old Joshua Titcombe, who died at Furness General Hospital in 2008 after staff failed to spot and treat an infection. A Care Quality Commission report published in June this year revealed that there had been a "cover up" of neglect at Furness General Hospital in Barrow, Cumbria. The trust faces at least 30 civil negligence claims. However, despite the fallout Halsall will continue to claim his full £150,606 salary until October. Among the disgraced chief's spending of £10,055, which ran from January 2009 to February 2012, was a £3,249 stay for 15 board members in the City Inn in Westminster, now owned by hotel chain Hilton, in £200-plus rooms. Excess: Bosses at University Hospitals of Morecombe Bay Trust spent hundreds of pounds on a taxi rather than take the Tube. Above, Furness Hospital, where staff failed to spot Joshua Titcombe had picked up an infection A separate staff trip in 2010 to visit the headquarters of clinical software company Lorenzo cost the trust £804 in airfare alone to transport "key clinical staff" to its Chennai base in India. Mr Halsall also splashed out £334 on flowers for eight members of staff in June 2010 and a further £48 on flowers for one member of staff the following year. The trust has said strict guidelines are in place and Mr Halsall had spent the money legitimately. Tim Bennett, director of finance and information at the trust, said: "The chief executive credit card is used for the legitimate business expenses of not only the chief executive, but other appropriate staff within the trust. Therefore, it is important to note that not all the expenses shown in the Freedom of Information request response related to the former chief executive. This is no different than in many other organisations, and in some cases, can offer better value. 'For example, the cost associated with the travel and accommodation of the whole trust board (consisting of 15 individuals), to take part in a required meeting in Central London with the trust's regulator, Monitor, as part of its foundation trust application in 2009. Any expenses incurred on the corporate credit card account must be in line with the rules governing its use, which ensure that only legitimate business expenses can be claimed for. For each instance the card is used, a separate form is required with all receipts attached. These are independently verified by the trust's finance department as part of the payment process.'