Public pays for BBC chief's flight
BBC Director-General Mark Thompson used more than £2,000 of licence fee-payers' money to fly his family home from holiday in the wake of the Andrew Sachs obscene phone calls row, it has been revealed.
Mr Thompson cut short his family holiday to return to the UK as public anger grew over the lewd messages left by Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross on the Fawlty Towers actor's answering machine.
The cost of flying his family home - £2,236.90 - was met by the BBC with the approval of the chairman of the corporation's audit committee.
Expenses claims made by the corporation's board have been published in what Mr Thompson describes as a "significant advance in openness at the BBC", although full details of top stars' salaries are to remain confidential.
