A “scandalous” penny-pinching ban on free photocopying in Shropshire’s magistrates courts is costing the taxpayer thousands of pounds in delays and red tape, it was claimed today.

Courts are no longer allowed to make free copies of crucial evidence for solicitors, leaving magistrates no choice but to put cases back so photocopies can be made elsewhere.

But the court service said the Crown Prosecution Service had the opportunity to make copies – once they were paid for at £5 for the first 10 pages and then 50p a page after that. Solicitor Steven Meredith, from Telford, has spoken out.

He said delays to cases were unnecessary and adjournments could be avoided if it was not for the ban.

He said: “We are talking a couple of thousand pounds here – it is just scandalous.

“It is a sad indictment on the court system. They won’t photocopy anything for anybody, it’s just ridiculous.”

A spokeswoman for Her Majesty’s Courts Service said fees for photocopying in magistrates courts were pre-determined and the same for courts across the country.

But Fiona McEvoy, from the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “It’s ridiculous that a rule supposedly introduced as a cost-cutting measure is resulting in considerable extra expense, delays and disruption for the court system.”

In one such case at Telford Magistrates Court last week, justices wanted to commit a man accused of stealing a laptop from a vicarage to crown court. Steven Slezak, 35, of Court Street, Madeley, appeared at the court charged with breaking into a vicarage in Madeley in February and stealing a laptop worth £700.

But prosecutor Mr Andrew Burke was told he could not get a photocopy of a forensic report despite explaining he could not proceed with the case without it. The case was then put back until this Thursday for another hearing.

Mr Meredith, who was defending Slezak, said: “They will have to bring him (Slezak) back from Dovegate Prison near Uttoxeter and that will cost £500 or £600.

“There is also the cost of keeping him for a week which is about £800 and our costs will be about £60, but if I am there longer it will increase. It is just ridiculous.”

By Jason Lavan