BBC executive Caroline Thomson claimed £2,500 in taxi expenses

One of the BBC's most highly-paid executives accounted for more than a tenth of all the taxi expenses claimed by almost 100 senior figures.

Chief operating officer Caroline Thomson – who was in the running to be the new director-general – put in claims totalling more than £2,500 for the three-month period.

Ms Thomson, who receives a total remuneration package of £328,000, also claimed back a £2 cash machine charge from a US visit, according to her latest expenses claims which have just been published.

Her taxi spend for the period came to £2,551.59, averaging at just over £25.50 each time she took a cab. Ms Thomson's spend equals 17 licence fees.

The entire spend for 97 executives over the three months is £24,770, down 11 per cent on the previous quarter.

Ms Thomson's taxi bill has actually gone up by more than 100 per cent during the same period. For the previous quarter she claimed £1,194.

A BBC spokeswoman said: "Caroline Thomson is responsible for the operations division which is based across a number of different locations around the UK, so her role involves a considerable amount of travel."

The BBC's creative director, Alan Yentob, claimed £1,216.05 for taxis for the period, quarter four of the last financial year. He also claimed a total of £722.81 for discussions about "projects" and "BBC films". Expenses and "central bookings" are down 4 per cent on the previous quarter.