It must have been a tough day for Chris Howard. At 11.31am on April 8 last year, he ordered a $14 Bloody Mary while on a business trip to Las Vegas. Just 41 minutes later, he ordered a Slightly Hung Over cocktail for $15.
It may have been a stressful time — or jet lag — that sent Howard to the bars so early, but it is also a glimpse into the extraordinary lifestyle of the man who is director of bullion at the government-owned Royal Mint.
A freedom of information inquiry has lifted the lid on his expenses and revealed that, despite earning £123,000 last year, he still charged a 45p packet of tissues to the taxpayer.
Indeed, he clocked up £45,000 on his expenses in a year — even deciding that a packet of chewing gum was too much of a cost to bear himself.
Answers from the inquiry also show he spent £15,000 last year staying in some of the world’s most luxurious hotels and £8,700 on entertaining business contacts and staff.
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It was not all cocktails in Las Vegas, though. Howard, 57, a former Ampleforth pupil who lives in Fulham, west London, also billed for items such as a 50p pack of Wrigley’s Extra chewing gum and £1.50 on mineral water bought at Boots at Euston station, London.
For a man who works for the company that makes the 12-sided £1 coins, launched in March, he knows how to be frugal. Rather than endless fine dining, Howard is an enthusiastic fan of fast food.
In Jackson, Ohio, Howard spent $6.70 on a Filet-O-Fish and Big Mac with medium fries. The next day he treated himself to a KFC Big Box (chicken, coleslaw, potato wedges, a biscuit and a Pepsi) for $8.06.
Howard is certainly following in some historic footsteps — although previously the steps of Mint employees may not have taken them quite so far.
His hotel bills demonstrate some impressive globetrotting, from California to Melbourne, Singapore to Shanghai, Hong Kong to Beijing.
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The Royal Mint traces its history back to the “moneyers” in London, more than 1,000 years ago.
By the early 1700s, the Mint produced coins from its premises behind the walls of the Tower of London before moving to a grand building in Tower Hill.
Even then, the international approach of Howard would have been welcomed: the Mint opened branches in Commonwealth countries and struck silver half-roubles for the Soviet Union in 1924.
Now based in Llantrisant, near Pontyclun in Wales, it has earned the Welsh town the rather unkind sobriquet of “the hole with the Mint in it”.
The Mint is a limited company but is wholly owned by the Treasury and supplies all the nation’s coins.
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It can produce almost 5bn coins a year and is the world’s leading export mint, making coins and medals for about 60 countries every year — 70% of total sales.
Royal Mint said: “Chris Howard’s commercial activities . . . necessitate frequent meetings with customers and distribution partners across the world, in order to grow sales.”
Since Howard was given the job of expanding the division, the Royal Mint’s bullion activities have grown significantly, it added. Profits at Royal Mint’s bullion unit have risen from £1.5m in 2014 to £4.6m to the end of the financial year in March.
On the matter of claiming for apparently trivial items such as tissues and chewing gum, Royal Mint said its travel policy allowed £5 a day for expenses incurred, and £10 if staying abroad.
Howard has the option of claiming those fixed amounts, but “instead claims actual expenditure, which is lower”.
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The Royal Mint says on its website that Howard has lived in five countries and speaks three languages. He is, the Mint boasts, “truly international”. Well, his expenses certainly prove that.