BBC three claimed £12,000

They include a total of 4,862 in fares by BBC director of vision Jana Bennett.

The figures are revealed in the latest disclosure of expense claims released for top BBC executives.

Ms Bennett, who is paid a salary of 412,000, claimed 675 in a two-day period in November for journeys within the UK.

She hit the headlines last year when it emerged that she had claimed 500 for a stolen handbag.

Other big taxi claimants include the BBC's director of future media and technology Erik Huggers, who ran up 3,908 over the period.

The corporation's chief operating officer, Caroline Thomson, accounted for 3,880.

Together the three executives ran up 12,650 in cab fare claims for the third quarter of the financial year. That is the equivalent of 87 licence fees, which currently cost 145.50 – or the cost of a Citroen Xsara Picasso, which starts at 12,700.

Between them, the three have run up around 137 in taxis each day over a three-month period.

Ms Bennett's claims equate to spending more than the cost of a licence fee every three days on taxi fares for a quarter.

A BBC spokesman defended Ms Bennett's use of taxis, saying they were the most efficient way of conducting business en route.

He said: "As the director of BBC TV, Jana Bennett's diary is incredibly busy, so she has to use her time as efficiently as possible. Whenever she is travelling to meetings, she will schedule in a number of business calls to make the best use of this travel time. Because of the confidential nature of these discussions, it is not possible to hold them in public."

BBC said overall taxi spend for the latest quarter was 38,829.46 – a drop from 39,029.72 previously and 46,110.25 before that.