Met 'spends £12m in three years flying business class'

The Met has spent more than £12million on first and business-class flights over three years, according to reports.

Officers have reportedly taken thousands of flights at taxpayers' expense to destinations across the world.

Nearly £70,000 was said to have been spent on 33 business-class flights to the Beijing Olympics for a fact-finding mission before London 2012. Meanwhile Mayor Boris Johnson and most of his entourage flew economy class.

A group of royal protection officers were said to have spent almost £10,000 on business-class fares to Antigua before the Duchess of York and her daughters holidayed there.

Scotland Yard's bill for flying in first and business class is alleged to have grown by more than 17 per cent since April 2007, with the cost for 2008-2009 topping £4.6million.

Details released under the Freedom of Information Act showed many of the fares related to trips taken by members of the royal protection squad, SO14, and SO1, which guards politicians.

Scotland Yard said it could not confirm the reported figure of £12.5million. A spokeswoman said the Met sought "the cheapest price travel available bearing in mind operational demands".