The Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Mayor has spent more than £9,300 on “luxury, executive, premium and high-end” chauffeurs in the past year.
Newly provided data from the East Midlands Combined County Authority shows Claire Ward, the region’s mayor, who has a salary of £93,000 and extra allowances, spent £9,328 on chauffeuring services between March 2025 and February 2026.
In October, the Mayor took on duties for public transport across Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, which have now been passed over from the city and county councils.
The payments were all made legally using a Government-issued corporate credit card.
The new data shows that between September last year and this February, the Mayor spent (£7,820.39) on chauffeurs, in addition to the £1,508 previously disclosed.
Of the £7,800, most (£7,300) was spent on the provider Pinnacle, based in Stapleford, Nottinghamshire, which describes itself as a luxury, executive, premium and high-end provider, with the rest via Blacklane in the USA.
Pinnacle details that its fleet comprises Mercedes S-class and BMW 7-series saloons, both of which are valued at more than £100,000 and include in-car Wi-Fi.
Previously, the combined authority had defended the use of chauffeurs as being a better use of the Mayor’s time than driving herself to and from visits across the extensive Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire patch – discussing issues such as public transport.
It also said that as a public politician there are safety and confidentiality considerations to be made about the Mayor’s travel while on her duties, with private chauffeuring firms insisting on DBS checks for drivers.
A spokesperson had also said Ms Ward is not allowed to drive a pool car under current legislation.
They added: “While we make every effort to arrange the Mayor’s calendar to enable multiple engagements in the same part of the region, there are some days where that is hard to achieve.
“The East Midlands is a large region, and it is important for the Mayor to visit all parts of it over the course of her term of office.
“On those days when the Mayor needs to be in multiple places over a single day, we use a local car hire company which has enough seat space so that she can make calls and catch up on email correspondence.
“This is a better use of her time than spending three or more hours driving herself.”
The new data also included a number of flights via British Airways to the USA and to France, totalling £2,685, paid for in February.
Accommodation for these trips, booked via Bnetwork in February, totalled £4,277, the combined authority details.
A spokesperson said the USA trip involved the Mayor forming part of a visit with the British Consultant General to lobby for the region and engage with investors in three different states: Chicago (Illinois), Columbus (Ohio) and Detroit (Michigan).
Meanwhile a flight to France, along with a £682 payment to a French meeting space organisation platform, were for the Mayor’s attendance and ticket for the annual international business summit MIPIM, held in Cannes, France, in March.
In response, a spokesperson said: “Regarding the expenses associated with travel overseas, Mayor Claire represents the East Midlands on investment and trade delegations, and the associated expenses are in line with those duties.”
The authority’s allowance policy says members are expected to travel by bus or standard class rail and to share journeys where possible, with taxis to be used in “rare circumstances”.
It says overseas travel should represent “value for money” and that staff and officials ought to take advantage of offers where possible.
The combined authority previously stressed that its use of corporate cards is in line with other authorities of a similar size and was not an outlier.
