The ministry spent £635 to fix a minister's red box

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The Department for Transport, which was led by Grant Shapps at the time of the repair in July, paid a whopping £634.80 to repair a lock stuck on one of the official briefcases

Boxes can cost up to £4,000 (

Image: Getty Images Europe

A government department had to spend over £600 to fix a departmental red box.

The Department for Transport, which was led by Grant Shapps at the time of the repair in July, paid the eye-watering sum of £634.80 to repair a jammed lock on one of the official briefcases.

Simon Lightwood, Shadow Labor's transport minister, said: 'From rail chaos to the worst airport disruptions in living memory, everything Grant Shapps touches is collapsing.'

"And just like gold wallpaper and crony contracts, it's always the public who foots the bill for Tory ministers."

Shadow Attorney General Emily Thornberry asked Transport Minister Jesse Norman why the expensive repair was necessary.

Grant Shapps was in charge of the service when the repairs took place (

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PENNSYLVANIA)

He replied, "The cost is for a jammed lock and associated repairs."

Red boxes are used by ministers to carry secret government documents.

Barrow, Hepburn and Gale, the company that makes the boxes, is currently reorganizing the government's stock of boxes to change the royal numeral engraved on them from 'EIIR' to 'CIIIR', following the death of Queen Elizabeth.

The company says some of the boxes still used by ministers were originally supplied over 30 years ago.

The boxes, which offer a higher level of security than a standard briefcase, can cost up to £4,000 to buy.