Homeless people in Edinburgh are being taken by taxi to nearby towns because of a shortage of bed and breakfast accommodation in the city.
An influx of visitors to the annual Edinburgh Festival. have taken beds normally used for homeless people.

The council has taken some as far away as Kirkcaldy and Linlithgow, 20 miles from central Edinburgh. Taxi fares cost as much as £50 per trip.

A spokeswoman for Edinburgh council said the number of homeless people in the city tended to rise each summer, particularly during the festival.

She added: “We have short-term agreements with places to provide emergency bed and breakfast accommodation when things get busy, as they always do at this time of year. But it is impossible to predict exactly how much will be needed.”

The council had resorted to using out-of-town accommodation in only a handful of cases, she said.

The council is housing 133 people in bed and breakfast accommodation at the moment; a further 300 or so have been placed in the council’s own permanent accommodation. People are no longer being moved outside the city to find a bed for the night, and the council does not foresee any further problems this summer, she said.

A spokeswoman for homelessness charity Shelter Scotland said that the council should have been prepared for the influx of people to the arts festival, which happens every August.