Police vehicle crashes cost £400,000 in three years
POLICE cars have been involved in more than 1,000 crashes in the last three years – with one vehicle being hit by a cow and another collision when an officer sneezed at the wheel.
The incidents, which caused nearly £400,000 of damage, included cars hitting walls, bollards and lamp posts when reversing. An officer burst all four tyres when he drove over a stinger – a strip of spikes laid across the road – set out to catch a suspect. Another car rolled into factory gates because the handbrake had been left off, causing £600 damage to the bumper and lights.
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The figures, released following a Freedom of Information request, show that in 2007, officers and staff had 360 crashes, causing £118,836 of damage.
In 2008, there were 343 crashes in Derbyshire involving police cars and motorbikes. The cost of damage was £116,077. In 2009, there were 384 crashes, costing £157,439. The force owned 600 vehicles which covered 9.3 million miles.
A Derbyshire police spokeswoman said: "All officers who drive police vehicles undergo a training course to minimise the risk of collisions. However, it is inevitable that at some point, police vehicles will be involved in collisions."
Officers have crashed while pursuing suspects and been driven at by offenders. They have collided after skidding on ice and after one officer sneezed, causing his car to crash into another vehicle.
One hit a garage door after the car stalled, causing it to jolt forward. Another damaged a car's engine after stalling driving through flood water, while a car was damaged to the tune of £3,000 when a cow ran into it. The officer had been called after reports of a cow on the loose. The bonnet, bumper and lights were damaged. One car was splattered with paint as it passed a lorry carrying line marking equipment.
Injuries included whiplash, cuts, bruises, a possible broken nose and broken collar bone. A pedestrian also suffered an injured ankle when he was hit by a police car. Police cars have been hit by badgers, dogs, foxes and guinea fowl. An officer lost control of a car, causing it to roll several times on the A6 between the A50 and Raynesway, causing £7,700 damage. The officer suffered a bump to the head.
Matthew Elliott, of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "This is a remarkably large bill.
"The police must cut out careless accidents – every penny spent on repairs could have been spent on fighting crime. These crashes are potentially dangerous to the public, too."
16 Comments
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by charlie, derbyshire
Wednesday, June 16 2010, 12:43AM
“Wooww this is amazing news. D E Telegragh are really scraping the barrel on this breaking news story. whoever wrote this is destined to be the next BBC reporter.
Cop cars are bound to have collisions, most of them are caused by crims, or pursueing them in some form and mostly stupid members of public that cant see blue lights and sirens behind them or right infront of them, i'v seen some close calls coz drivers just arnt watching around them.
obvisously cops arnt faultless but what do you expect when there's thousands of staff and many police cars accross the county!”
by boggy carl, bognor regis
Tuesday, June 15 2010, 8:25PM
“i drive 70,000 miles a year on all roads and havent had a aciedent for years and i do alot of country roads with do u no cows cant jump lol its just bad driving in total they dont give a dame because it aint thier property to keep being fixed if it was they would take care of it”
by Eric, Derby
Tuesday, June 15 2010, 7:27PM
“I agree with Ian - you have to take these figures in context. If they are doing nearly 10 MIllion miles a year, incidents are inevitable. They are out day and night, all weathers and have to follow after dangerous motorists.”
by Kargo, Derby
Tuesday, June 15 2010, 4:29PM
“I work near to the Derby police station and I think some of these police drivers think they own the road just because they are in a police vehicle. They never seem to indicate, that they always have right of way and have never heard of road courtesy! I'm not talking about police vehicles on emergency calls here, these are police cars entering and leaving their place of work and driving like lunatics!”
by redhead, derbyshire
Tuesday, June 15 2010, 3:30PM
“oooh look, a new line in convertibles!!!”
by Rad, Derby
Tuesday, June 15 2010, 3:23PM
“Police cars get damged in the line of duty shocker!!!!
Remember you heard it here first.
Oh well I spose something's got to go on the front page.”
by George, Derby
Tuesday, June 15 2010, 1:32PM
“Slow news day then.. Lets do a freedom of information act request so we can publish some more stuff about the Police..”
by di, derby
Tuesday, June 15 2010, 1:17PM
“The TaxPayer's Alliance describe it as a large sum - but could we have some comparisons please. Compared with another police force with similar number of vehicles are council taxpayers getting value for money in Derbys? Is the same amount being paid out on training or are the officers not being supported?”
by Starsky, and Hutch
Tuesday, June 15 2010, 10:53AM
“Onr drove over a stinger, another left the handbrake off, another sneezed and crashed, another hit a garage wall and stalled......tell me more about this training course, it sounds a blast !!”
by Dawn, Derby
Tuesday, June 15 2010, 10:29AM
“"Police cars have been hit by badgers, dogs, foxes and guinea fowl " - "a cow ran into it" !!
There must be alot of bad tempered wild-life in Derbyshire.
Surely these animals, who 'attack police cars' ,can't cause much, if any damage.(with the exception of the cow of course)”