Taxis for school children cost the taxpayer nearly £16 million a year.

The Argus can reveal the total figure includes one child being taken 700 yards – at a cost of £12 a trip.

Another is driven daily from their Sussex home to a special school more than 120 miles away.

Town halls defended the figures stating it was meeting legal responsibilities adding the majority of journeys were for children with special educational needs.

But dozens of others qualify as they live more than two miles away (those under eight) and more than three miles (other ages) from their school.

Hove MP Mike Weatherley said: “The whole issue highlights the importance of having schools as close as possible to where families live.”

Brighton and Hove City Council revealed under the Freedom of Information Act it had paid £180 for two pupils to travel every fortnight more than 120 miles from Brighton to Margate.

Another youngster is taken a mile from their Hove home to an unnamed school a mile away because their parent is ill – at a cost of £12 every day.

They were among 518 young people the local authority supported in the last financial year.

For the full story see today's Argus.