Bumper bill for prangs by police in station car parks

Published on Friday 8 April 2011 12:41

THOUSANDS of pounds worth of damage has been caused to Lothian police vehicles because of crashes in station car parks.

It has emerged officers have been involved in more than a dozen shunts and scrapes in low-speed parking areas. On seven occasions squad cars ploughed into other vehicles, while another police vehicle was driven into a mystery "object".

On five other occasions over the past three years, non-police vehicles, either driven by off-duty officers or visitors to the station, drove into force cars and vans, with a total repair bill of more than 6000.

Along with hatchback and saloon squad cars, the damaged vehicles included six vans, including a Mercedes.

The details, released under freedom of information legislation, revealed that on two separate occasions officers at Craigmillar Police Station drove into parked cars, while personnel at St Leonards Police Station were in a moving police car when they were hit by another vehicle.

Entering and leaving Livingston Police Station car park provided the greatest hazard and accounted for three of the 13 crashes, including when officers drove backwards into a non-police vehicle.

At Musselburgh Police Station, a police car was driven into a 'property', although it is not clear if it was the station itself or a wall.

The most expensive accident, in terms of damage to the police vehicle, was 1782.05.

Officers are often suspended from driving even for minor accidents while an investigation into the crash is carried out.

Councillor Iain Whyte, convener of Lothian and Borders Police Board, said: "I would encourage the chief constable to remind any members of the force to be as careful as possible while parking their cars.

"This is a fairly small amount of money and car parks are places where people do have minor bumps, and obviously it's not all caused by police officers."

A police spokesman said that investigations were carried into all but the most minor bump and that some drivers may undergo retraining, but that officers were not responsible for all collisions.

He added: "We are conscious of our obligations in terms of public safety, and we have in place robust processes to ensure that any collisions involving police vehicles are investigated thoroughly.

"Whenever a police vehicle is involved in a collision at any level, an investigation will be undertaken in order to establish the circumstances of the incident, and the driver may be suspended from driving police vehicles pending the results of the investigation.

"We will continue to ensure that our drivers are trained to the highest possible standards in accordance with ACPOS guidelines, in order to deliver the best possible service to the public, with their safety as the number one priority."