Cop chases cost the force £127 million in last three years
SWEENEY-style car chases landed Britain's police forces with a £127 million garage bill in just three years, shock new figures reveal.
All but three of the nation's forces spent over their budgets during the three years to April this year to keep their fleets of cars, vans and other vehicles in good nick.
Of the combined £127.5 million total, almost a fifth - £22 million - was racked up repairing accident damage including one BMW X5 in South Yorkshire that cost £21,000 to fix.
The rest was in maintenance, from repairing tyres worn down from screeching round corners to annually servicing souped up motors used to chase down thieves.
The figures were obtained by motoring magazine Auto Express using a Freedom of Information request sent to all the British forces.
It revealed that over the three years the only forces to keep within budget were the City of London, Devon and Cornwall and Staffordshire.
In the 12 months covering 2013/14 alone, the total bill was the highest of all at £45 million, said Auto Express's investigation which got information from all but six of Britain's 43 regional forces.
Since 2011/12 police forces have spent £105.3 million on maintenance and wear and tear items and a further £22.2 million on accident repairs
Many police forces now outside contractors to maintain the vehicles in their fleet which police chiefs claim offers the best value for money.
But Auto Express revealed: "Since 2011/12 police forces have spent £105.3 million on maintenance and wear and tear items and a further £22.2 million on accident repairs."
The biggest bill of the three years was from Northern Ireland's force - £19 million - but it also has the biggest fleet of any UK police authority, 3,452 vehicles.
The biggest cost per vehicle was in Gloucestershire who forked out the equivalent of £3,721 per vehicle over the full three year period, followed by Nottinghamshire at £3,558 per vehicle.
The biggest bill for repairs only in 2013/14 was from West Yorkshire who spent more than £1 million on repairing damaged police cars and vans.
Some of the costs are reclaimed through insurance where the police driver was not at fault for an accident.
But in return, cop cars tend to spend more on items like replacing tyres long before they are worn out as to keep them in tiptop condition for police chases and wet weather driving.
And the figures do not include fuel which could run into several millions of pounds on top.
A spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers said, simply: "The maintenance of police vehicles is a matter for individual forces."
