Emergency vehicles clock up 325 road accidents in Lothian

Eight members of the public suffered minor injuries as a result of the crashes, while seven police officers were hurt.

A total of 205 accidents involving police were recorded last year, but just 21 occurred as a vehicle was responding to a 999 call or engaged in a pursuit. In one of the most bizarre incidents, a police car was damaged when a pheasant flew into its windscreen.

Police chiefs said the "highest possible standards" of training had been given to its drivers and collisions were "investigated thoroughly".

Meanwhile, figures also showed that fire engines were involved in an accident every week in Lothian and Borders during 2009, but less than half took place while they were responding to emergency calls.

A total of 53 accidents involving fire appliances were recorded, while another 14 involved the service's ancillary vehicles.

Vehicles from the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) were last year involved in 53 accidents in its south-east division, which includes Lothian and Borders – 21 of which happened while responding to emergency calls.

A police spokesman said: "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.

"While we treat our responsibilities towards public safety extremely seriously, it should be borne in mind that not all collisions involving police vehicles can be attributed to police driving.

"However, we will continue to ensure that our drivers are trained to the highest possible standards in accordance with Acpos (Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland] guidelines, in order to deliver the best possible service to the public, with their safety as the number one priority."

Nine of the incidents involving the fire service were investigated by police, although no-one was injured.

A spokeswoman for Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service said: "We attend several thousand blue-light incidents a year and also make a significant number of routine journeys across the service area. That being the case, the number of vehicles involved in incidents is relatively low.

"In most of these cases the damage will have been quite minor as we record every event from a clipped wing mirror, scrapes to vehicles and collisions. It is also pleasing to see that no injuries were sustained in any of these accidents."

The figures showed that blame was apportioned to ambulance staff in 33 of the 51 accidents involving SAS vehicles last year.

An ambulance service spokesman said: "All vehicle crew staff undertake specialist driver training. Our vehicles drive around two million miles across Scotland every month to help patients, often in the most extreme and difficult weather conditions when other drivers would not venture out."

STATIONARY POLICE CAR WRITTEN OFF IN SMASH

A POLICE car was written off after a minibus loaded with 16 passengers ploughed into it.

No officers were in the vehicle at the time and no-one was injured in the accident, which happened along a stretch of the A1 between Haddington and Dunbar at 8pm last Friday.

Police were investigating the scene of an earlier one-vehicle crash, with emergency lights flashing and a warning sign placed at the rear, when the vehicle careered into their stationary car.

A police spokesman said: "We can confirm that a police vehicle suffered extensive damage as a result of a collision on the A1 on Friday.

"An investigation into the collision is under way and the matter will be reported to the procurator fiscal.

"In accordance with normal force procedures an internal review will also be carried out."