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Welsh Government ministers have been criticised after opting to travel by car to more than 800 events – while only using public transport on 42 occasions.

The Welsh Conservatives, who obtained the figures through a written assembly question, blasted ministers for the “huge disparity” and their “hypocritical behaviour”.

North Wales Assembly Member Antoinette Sandbach said: “This huge disparity between ministerial car use and public transport is unforgivable.

“These figures don’t just show a small difference; cars have been used 20 times more than public transport.

“Meanwhile, the Welsh Labour Government continues to rightly push its sustainable travel town scheme.

“How can we expect people to sign up to the travel changes needed and leave their cars at home if ministers engage in this kind of hypocritical behaviour?”

Since last May’s election, the Welsh Government’s fleet of Volvos has been used 854 times to travel to official engagements, with journeys sometimes covering multiple events.

During the same period ministers have undertaken 32 return and 10 single journeys by public transport for official engagements during the same period.

Shadow minister for transport Byron Davies AM said: “The ministerial cars certainly have their place and we would not expect them to be banished.

“What we desperately need is a much better balance between use of these cars and use of public transport.

“Wales is not a vastly large country and there is no reason why this many car journeys should be chosen over rail or other alternative forms of transportation.”

The Welsh Conservatives pointed to examples of their AMs opting for public transport over cars, with Mr Davies frequently using the train to travel from South Wales West to Cardiff, shadow health minister Darren Millar taking the train from North Wales to Cardiff and back every week.

Ms Sandbach used the train to get to London for engagements in July and February and has also used rail from Colwyn Bay to Cardiff, while shadow housing minister Mark Isherwood uses public transport to travel to and from North Wales and frequently to engagements.

Friends of the Earth Cymru director Gareth Clubb director said it was important for politicians to use public transport systems or they risked “becoming completely detached from the system that is promoted by the Welsh Government and other groups”.

“The question that needs to be asked is whether there’s any point in the decision making process where factors relating to sustainability and environmental benefits are considered and how is that weighted?” he said.

“Because it would seem from the evidence that there are more than 800 journeys taken by car and only 40 or so by public transport, either there is no consideration of any of that in the decision making process or it’s weighted so low to render it meaningless.

“The price of petrol and diesel is at an all time high and is set to increase as the years go by simply because we’re in the decade of peak oil.

“The ministers should clearly be setting an example and the sr for most travel by ministerial car is of course paid for by the tax payers of Wales who have found that they can only travel by public transport because the cost of fuel compels them to do so or because they find it environmental benefit in doing so.”

He said ministers were doubly protected from the price rises affecting the public by both their above average salary and access to ministerial cars.

Mr Clubb suggested it was possible ministers’ over-reliance on travelling by car is why the transport commissioning system in Wales was found to favour building new roads over other forms of transport.

Campaign for Better Transport campaign director Richard Hebditch said: “It’s pretty disappointing how little they’ve used [public transport].

“It is not as if they themselves have to pay for the increasing cost of using it as a result of their fare hikes and cuts to support for buses.”

A Welsh Government source said: “Our commitment to public transport is clear – we are investing around £336m in public and sustainable transport solutions in Wales during 2012-13.

“Ministers have a duty to meet people across Wales and see frontline services. They often undertake several engagements in a single day and consideration is always given to the most cost effective and efficient way of conducting as many engagements as possible, to maximise value for money.

“Due to the use of more fuel efficient cars, we have reduced our carbon emissions by 13.5% per km since 2006-07.

“It is important to remember that during these car journeys, ministers will continue to work, and have access to a range of confidential information, which they could not do on public transport.

“This is therefore a more effective use of ministerial time and resources.

“We now look forward to hearing Welsh Conservatives in the Assembly calling on Tory ministers in London, to follow our green example.”