Cllr Rabina Khan is an ex-Labour and now Independent in Mayor Lutfur Rahman’s cabinet. She lives in Lindley Street, Stepney, and runs her own media and consultancy business. Her website is here, where it tells us more about her:
Hello, my name is Rabina Khan and welcome to my website.
I am a Writer, Producer and Creative Consultant, living and working for many years in Tower Hamlets, London. I’m involved in a range of writing, speaking, film, moving image and creative projects and I enjoy what I do.
Over the years my writing and creative work has developed into film treatments, script writing, film making and managing commissions.
Creativity really is her forte, there’s no doubt about that. How else to explain a cab fare of £120.63 for a 1.5 mile trip from the Town Hall in Mulberry Place to Mile End Park on March 28 last year? As the Tories point out, the 277 bus would have taken her there directly…in 15 minutes. For £1.35.
And how else to explain a return trip from her home to Hackney Town Hall for £76 last May? On June 20, she even billed us £20 for a taxi from Mulberry Place to Mulberry Girls School, where she is a governor. Let’s hope it was in relation to her role as cabinet member for housing.
| Date | Fare | From | To | Other |
| 17.11.11 | £33.35 | Lindley St and Jamaica Street |
House of Commons | (With Cllr Alibor Choudhury) |
| 17.11.11 | £40.00 | House of Commons | Lindley St and Jamaica Street |
(With Cllr Alibor Choudhury) |
| 12.1.12 | £11.80 | John Scurr House | Angel House, E14 | John Scurr is opposite the entrance to Limehouse DLR, Angel House is close to South Quay DLR |
| 12.1.12 | £11.50 | Mulberry Place | Sadler House | |
| 20.1.12 | £83.31 | Mulberry Place | Quin Close, E1 | |
| 14.3.12 | £39.18 | Anchorage House | Brabner House | |
| 14.3.12 | £25.25 | Brabner House | Mulberry Place | |
| 21.3.12 | £36.58 | Anchorage House | Conisborough College, SE6 | |
| 21.3.12 | £88.26 | Conisborough College, SE6 | Lindley St | Total of: |
| 125.84 for this trip | ||||
| 28.3.12 | £120.63 | Mulberry Place | Mile End Park | The 277 Bus goes door to door ! |
| 17.4.12 | £18.88 | Mulberry Place | Cable Street | |
| 17.4.12 | £12.51 | Cable Street | Shackleton House | |
| 17.4.12 | £15.58 | Brodick Street | Wickham Close | |
| 1.5.12 | £11.80 | Albert Gardens | Newport House | |
| 8.5.12 | £13.92 | Leylan House | Fisher House | |
| 15.5.12 | £58.56 | St Mathias Centre, E14 | Ada House, E2 | |
| 17.5.12 | £13.22 | Lindley St | Hackney Town Hall | |
| 17.5.12 | £62.81 | Hackney Town Hall | Lindley St | Total Cost 76.03. The 277 bus stops in Mare Street |
| 30.5.12 | £14.16 | Anchorage House | Byng Street | |
| 30.5.12 | £12.04 | Byng Street | Mulberry Place | Easily reached by bus or DLR from Town Hall complex |
| 31.5.12 | £14.40 | Leylan House | Candy Street | |
| 31.5.12 | £20.30 | Candy Street | Dewberry Street | |
| 31.5.12 | £19.12 | Dewberry Street | Welland Mews | |
| 31.5.12 | £11.33 | Reardon House, E1 | Rochester Court, E2 | |
| 11.6.12 | £12.04 | Emmott Close, E1 | Bigland School | |
| 13.6.12 | £28.56 | |||
| 13.6.12 | £22.42 | City Hall | Mulberry Place | 7 Minute journey on Jubilee Line from London Bridge-Canary Wharf |
| 18.6.12 | £28.62 | Mulberry Place | Oxford House, E2 | |
| 18.6.12 | £15.34 | Oxford House | Lindley St | |
| 19.6.12 | £21.00 | Newton House, E1 | St Matthias Centre, E14 | |
| 20.6.12 | £24.51 | Mulberry Place | Mulberry Girls School | |
| 25.6.12 | £13.69 | Cheviot House | Velitri House | |
| 25.6.12 | £26.43 | Rushmead | Mulberry Place | |
| 25.6.12 | £50.68 | Mulberry Place | Chicksand St | |
| 26.6.12 | £20.06 | Mulberry Place PlacePlace | Stratford Old Town Hall | |
| 29.6.12 | £36.44 | Mulberry Place | Oxford House | |
| Total | £1,088.58 |
Ted
What cab company are they using? Are there receipts for these journeys? These claims warrant criminal investigation.
It seems to be a contract with the council. I suspect the councillors are just letting the meter run, but it is reasonable of you to wonder whether there’s something more. That’s what the District Auditor will be looking at. If he has teeth, that is.
AirQualityDeaths has hit the nail on the head Ted; whose cousin, sister-in-law or her brother owns said cab company?
Thank you for choosing xx Cars.
We are pleased to confirm a price for your requested quote below,
Happy with the quote? BOOK NOW
————————————————————
Quoted Price: £ 7.00
Requested by: xxx
Pick up address: Mulberry Place E142bg
Drop-off address: mile end park
————————————————————
What is a “creative consultant” exactly? Is it someone who creatively spends other peoples’ money for them?
Sounds like it GM, it certainly sounds like it …
Adding up all the cab fares from your last three blog entries gives us the big, fat total of £5359.72p. Which equates to the combined council tax from nearly five Band C houses in the borough. And how many properties in the borough actually PAY all their council tax (i.e. aren’t on some benefit or another)?
I’d guess that this is a significant percentage of the amount of domestic council tax raised in a one year period. Just to allow three councilors to swan around in taxis.
Corrupt to the core. Who is the District Auditor and what’s his dentition like?
Tim.
Rabina Khan of course defended herself at the council meeting last night by saying it was just nasty old Peter Golds being mean because she’s a woman and a working mother and so she needed all those taxis. She even dragged the fact her son was in Great Ormond Street into it and turned on the waterworks.
All well and good, but it’s not the first time she’s put *that* on when she’s been caught out.
Most working mums I know are acutely aware of the value of money and would never dream of leaving a taxi meter running to more than £100 just because a stranger is picking up the tab.
She should be offering to repay that money. Shocking lack of remorse so far from these councillors.
Anjem Choudary will be very proud of her – “take money from the kuffar” – isn’t what it is all about ?
You link this to religion – religious extremism, even? When the MPs did it, everyone accepted it was about greed. Peter, your bigotry shines through.
Let’s call it for what it is you bigot!
corrupt scum bag make her pay it back.
I am a Tower Hamlets resident, and a civil servant working in a central government department – in a operational unit sometimes having to coordinate crisis and emergency response. During the London bombings and several other crises, I ran up and down Whitehall, with briefing documents and resources. Sometimes I am able to catch the bus. We are entitled to blue light response services and also to claim taxi fares especially during crisis, and during duty overnight or unsocial hours. However where less costly alternative options exist eg bus/ walkng I use them. I have paid out of my own pocket on a number of occasions for buses and taxis, and not claiming back the money from the department. I always think about having integrity as a public servant. This woman and Tower Hamlets Council as a whole should be investigated, and I will be forwarding details of this misconduct to the appropriate bodies. Its a disgrace.
I don’t care who you are or where you come from, but this is an absolute disgrace. I support Lutfor Saab because of the false accusations against him being labelled as some sort of extremist sympathiser. I suppport him because he does a lot of good for our young people and unemployed in the borough, however this is evidence of him riding the gravy train, which I can never support
I believe he is a social democrat but like many of those on the left of politics he has become the champagne
Socialist type. This I can never support.
It is a shame that a lot in the Bengali Community will not have access to or read these blogs because if they did, they would be ashamed!
Ted, is there any way to compare the spending during Lutfur’s leadership with those of his predecessors?
WHY doesn’t someone write to the council’s District Auditor? In fact why don’t we all flood him with complaints about the theft of public funds exposed here and previous entries on the dodgy cab rides?
He is andrew.sayers@kpmg.co.uk
Phil
Thank you, yes I will write to him and urge others to do so also. I would also urge you all to write to the Police, Action for Fraud or Serious Fraud Office, Financial Ombudsman, Local and National Press and media outlets. The more we publicise this the better chance we have of bringing these people to account.
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