£1.3 million damage bill for West Mercia Police vehicles
More than £1 million has been spent on damaged police cars in the West Mercia force area in just over three years.
About £1.3 million was spent repairing damages and replacing police vehicles that were written off between April 2014 and November last year.
A total of 22 police vehicles were written off, which cost the force £385,679,48.
Five were written off on a junction or roundabout, three were written off by hitting objects or vehicles, three were written off due to the vehicles colliding with another vehicle, three were due to excessive speed, three were due to stopping a vehicle, two were written off due to criminal damage, and one was caused by a flood.
Reversing was the cause of damage to police cars 311 times over the three years and seven months, while hitting an object or vehicle was the cause of damage to 276 vehicles.
Fifty vehicles were damaged by hitting animals, and police forked out for repairs or replaced 92 vehicles as a result of criminal damage.
Police stopping other vehicles resulted in 142 cases of damage, and 17 vehicles were damaged or written off because of police driving with excessive speed.
Dave Newbold, head of transport services for West Mercia Police, said a new installed telematics system monitors driving behaviour on a daily basis.
He said: “Our vehicles work in a relatively high risk environment and cover more than 1.4 million miles each year responding to emergency calls in a fast paced, but controlled environment.
"Each incident is reviewed to identify if there are any lessons to be learned and where necessary proportionate action is taken in cases where an officer or police staff member has been responsible for causing the damage.
"All driving behaviour is monitored on a daily basis by the use of a new installed telematics system."
