OFFICIALS from cash-strapped Inverclyde Council splashed out £900,000 on card payments in the last year — with bills including a slap-up meal at the Hard Rock Cafe and a trip on the London Eye.

Data obtained by the Telegraph under Freedom of Information laws reveals how a large sum of taxpayers’ money has been spent using ‘purchase cards’ issued to local authority staff across various departments.

Employees racked up a bill of £900,300 in the 2016/17 financial year.

Card spending last year included £320 at Hard Rock Cafe in November and £456 at The Waterwheel restaurant in Port Glasgow in July by the local authority’s education department.

Just over £300 was spent on the London Eye visit last February. 

The council’s human resources (HR) department also used a card to cover a £74 ‘retiral gift’ from Marks and Spencer last summer.

The council — which faces a funding gap of more than £20m over the next few years — initially blocked the Tele’s request for information but the data was then released after we appealed that decision.

Officials have defended the spending and insist the cards are not credit cards but ‘corporate purchase cards’.

There are 52 active cards in active use across the council.

Municipal Buildings bosses say that staff who have access to them are ‘selected operational’ and ‘frontline’ employees.
No councillors are allowed to use the cards.

A council spokesman said: “It is a common sense way to pay that is both flexible and cost-effective.

“The cards allow services to pay suppliers directly or online and are used across the council albeit under strict supervision and budget control.

“Schools make use of them on organised trips and other services use them to buy regular supplies.”

Last year’s £900,000 card bill was up by nearly £67,000 on the £833,500 spent in 2013/14.

The figure for 2015/16 was £943,500.

A large amount of the spending covers office supplies and building and vehicle repairs.

Information was provided for 10 departments, with education spending detailed across 29 pages.

There were more than 250 purchases from Amazon, over 300 transactions with Tesco and goods were also bought from Morrisons, Aldi, Lidl, Sainsburys, Waitrose, the Co-op, Scotmid, Farmfoods and Iceland.

Council cash was also used to buy items from stores such as Ikea, Primark, Game, Matalan and Currys.

A series of restaurant visits were paid for using cards.

Just over £180 was spent at Jade Palace in Greenock last June, with another £100 on a further visit to the buffet restaurant in December.

The education department spent just under £100 on a meal at the Taj Mahal Indian restaurant in Gourock last January while there were also purchases from Domino’s Pizza, Greggs, Aulds, Subway, McDonald’s and Burger King.