A £50,000 stretch limo was hired for £3,000 to transport asylum seekers from the city of London to Manchester.
The 16-seat Hummer took seven Africans from the village hotel they had been staying in to their new homes. The chauffeur told astonished locals that the Home Office was picking up the tab.
Residents in Longford, near Heathrow, say they are ‘overwhelmed’ with migrants who have turned their village into a transit camp.
Rana Saif, 55, who owns a pub in the village and took the photograph of the black limousine, said: ‘It’s a big waste of money – and taxpayers’ money at that.
‘I have no problem with immigration, I moved here from Sweden, but there are too many in a small village. The limo was here about half an hour. I thought it must be a stag do.
‘There were seven migrants, all young African men. The driver said he was going to take them to Manchester and he was being paid £3,000. He said the Home Office would pay him.’
Immigrants arrive in coaches and are put up in the hotel and local houses by the Home Office while their applications for asylum are considered.
It refuses to say how much it is spending on the accommodation, but one villager said he was told the contract was worth £7,000 a day.
The homes used to house the migrants in the village are owned by multi-millionaire businessman Surinder Arora, 57, who is thought to be earning tens of thousands of pounds a month from the Home Office.
A Home Office spokesperson added: ‘Our contractors are responsible for arranging the transport of asylum seekers and bear the cost of doing so. However, this incident was totally inappropriate and Serco has apologised.
‘The terms of our contract with Serco requires them to take all reasonable steps to ensure transport is appropriate. We have reminded the company of their contractual obligations and expressed our strong disapproval. There was no additional cost to the taxpayer.’
Mr Arora did not respond to requests for comment last night.
