Mayor overestimates revenue from Barclays sponsorship

Dave Hill at the Guardian writes about the Mayor's exaggeration of the benefits of the cycle hire sponsorship contract with Barclays, pointing out Caroline Pidgeon's questioning that highlighted the true figures:

"Barclays," proclaimed the Mayor, has "saved Londoners about £50 million" through its sponsorship of cycle hire and superhighways. The key word in that assertion is "about."

As in the past the Mayor appeared at best unclear about how much money Barclays has and eventually will transfer to London's savings account in return for his inviting it to carpet brand its streets.

...

The Mayor did not oblige, but said, "I will do my best," to provide a bit more detail. Perhaps he's unaware that he'd already done this back in March in a written answer to Lib Dem Caroline Pidgeon:

Barclays sponsorship is worth up to £50m to 2018.

So for "about £50m" read "up to" £50m by 2018 if we're lucky.

Read the full story here at the Guardian.