Tourist board had ‘culture of toxicity’
Two former tourist board chiefs have been accused of playing games to see who could get the most expensive bottle of wine on expenses.
Speaking in the House of Lords during a debate about extending the Freedom of Information Act, former Sheffield City Council leader Lord Scriven said he had tried to investigate ‘major excesses’ and ‘recent scandals’ at Welcome to Yorkshire.
He said the tourism body, under the leadership of former chief executive Gary Verity and the former chair Ron McMillan, had a ‘culture of toxicity’.
An independent inquiry found expenses at Welcome to Yorkshire had been made without receipts, said the BBC.
Responding to the wine claims, McMillan said: "On no occasion that I recall has that been the case."
Lords were told Sir Gary Verity had made Welcome to Yorkshire a private company in 2009 and had received over £10 million in public money in the last 10 years.
"Excesses include luxury spending on helicopters, hotels at £600 a night [and] lavish meals during which the chief executive Gary Verity and the former chair Ron McMillan were playing games about who could get the most expensive wine on expenses," Lord Scriven said.
He also mentioned ‘shooting expeditions, seen as networking, at £2,500 a day’ and ‘private chauffeur-driven cars to take people a few miles’.
McMillan denied the tourism body had paid for any shooting trips, stating he and Sir Gary had been guests on them on a small number of occasions.
After Verity resigned in March on health grounds, complaints were made about his behaviour and expenses, prompting independent investigations.
Investigators said that of expenses claims worth £900,000, £26,000 of these claims were deemed to be of a personal nature, the BBC reported.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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