World News for Students of English

03-12-2025 07:00

The British government has announced a ban, effective from February, on the routine use of taxis for transferring asylum seekers to medical appointments, with limited exemptions for disability or pregnancy-related needs.

This policy change follows a BBC investigation that exposed systematic use of cabs, including extreme examples such as a 250-mile journey for a GP visit, costing the Home Office 600 pounds. The investigation prompted an urgent review into transport costs for asylum seekers, which the government has confirmed averages 15.8 million pounds (more than 18 million euros) per year. Ministers hope that requiring asylum seekers to use public transport for routine medical needs will significantly reduce this expense.

Further reports revealed the broader issue of transport mismanagement, with taxi drivers detailing cases of long, unnecessary journeys, sometimes without passengers, which inflated mileage and costs charged to the Home Office. Although the ban targets medical transport specifically, ministers intend to extend the principle of using taxis only in exceptional circumstances across all asylum accommodation transfers to root out waste.

Difficult words: exemption (an official permission not to have to do something that other people are required to do), mileage (the total number of miles traveled, especially by a vehicle), root out (to find and eliminate or destroy something bad or undesirable).

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