A Glasgow councillor has racked up a whopping mileage bill in his luxury car that is enough to drive coast to coast across the USA three times.

Hanif Raja Labour councillor for Pollokshields, claimed more than £4000 in car mileage for the last year 2022/23.

Councillor Raja revealed he drives a 6-litre Lexus LS, which has been described by the RAC as “probably the most refined car available this side of a Rolls-Royce Phantom”.

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According to the RAC, examples of the car cost £92,000 when purchased new.

The expenses were revealed on the day the Low Emission Zone came into force in the city designed to reduce pollution from cars.

The LEZ has been introduced to reduce pollution in the city as the council said there are still illegally high levels in some streets.

Glasgow Times:

The councillor said he has a “lot of work” and is “on the road a lot”.

Elected members of the council can claim 45p per mile for driving to carry out their work.

Councillor Raja’s claim equals 8908 miles in his luxury car.

It is enough to dive from the east coast of the USA to the west coast three times or Land's End to John O’Groats seven and a half times.

Councillor Raja previously hit the news when he was logging in to virtual council meetings in 2021 remotely from Sri Lanka.

His mileage is enough to drive the distance between Glasgow and the Sri Lankan capital Colombo and halfway back again.

Mr Raja defended his high mileage.

He said: “I have Baillie duties and I do five surgeries per month. And community councils in the ward.

“It is a lot of distance to cover.

“I am on the road quite a lot, so my car mileage is a bit high. There is a lot of work.

“My business manager knows about the mileage. I am the only Labour councillor in the ward.

“The car is quite big. It is a Lexus 600. It has a 6000cc engine.”

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According to Auto Express car magazine, the Lexus LS 600 will have a fuel consumption of 19.5 miles per gallon.

Mr Raja’s claim for car miles was by far the highest of all councillors, accounting for around one-third of the total claim of all councillors.

He also claimed £97 in other travel expenses and £6.15 for IT and telephone taking his total expenses claim for the year to £4,512.15 on top of his councillor and Baillie salary of £19,541.15.

The year covered a council election, so the list includes those who left the council and new councillors elected in May 2022.

The bill for all 101 councillors was £12,764.95.

Many managed to carry out their work without submitting any mileage claims throughout the year.

Just 20 put in expenses for car mileage.

The next highest was SNP councillor Margaret Morgan who was chair of the Licensing Board, who claimed £1304.10 for the year and Glenn Elder a former independent councillor whose bill was £1186.20.

Others who were between £500 and £1000 were SNP councillors Paul McCabe, £998.35, Ruairi Kelly £940.37, Annette Christie at £885.15 and Labour councillor, Frank McAveety, at £707.85.

The total annual expenses bill for the councillors was £61,460.85, including £12,764 for car mileage, £43,640 for other travel, £2,996.45 for accommodation, £168.48 for subsistence £665.21 for IT and telephones and £125 for conferences.

The total bill for salaries and expenses was £2,052,378.07.