Government spokesman Rafael Almagro announced on Tuesday that the Orihuela Ayuntamiento have leased two minibuses, at a cost of almost 1500 euro per month, to move municipal staff who live in the city but who are employed on the coast.

The staff are understood to be blue collar personnel who are employed predominantly in parks and gardens and in a variety of labouring tasks.

The rental period of the agreement is four years with an option to extend for another two amounting to a total spend of very nearly 90,000 euro.

At a time when departments are being asked to justify every euro that they spend, perhaps the Councillor for Employment might have considered employing staff who are already living on the coast, thereby making a substantial saving in expenditure which could have been better used elsewhere.