Road traffic collisions in Shropshire and Telford cost West Mercia Police more than £100,000 in 12 months, new figures showed today.

The details of financial implications of the accidents came to light following a Freedom of Information request to the force which was published on its website.

The disclosure also revealed three vehicles were damaged beyond repair in the last financial year from 2009 to 2010.

The person who submitted the request, who has not been named, asked their questions in reference to Shropshire Division and Telford Division.

They asked: “In the 09/10 financial year, how much money was spent on repairing vehicles following road traffic accidents?”

In Shropshire the cost was £50,921 while in Telford the figure was £51,484.

They also asked: “How many of your vehicles were destroyed (by destroyed I mean damaged beyond economic repair) in the last financial year (09/10) following a road traffic accident?”

The force stated that three vehicles were damaged beyond repair in Shropshire and none in Telford.

Compensation

The total cost of the three vehicles to the service was £16,406. The cost was for the book value of the vehicles to the force at the time, even if there was no cost in replacing them as they may have been insured.

The person also asked about compensation claims paid out by the force.

Their question states: “In the 09/10 financial year how many claims of compensation were paid to members of the public who were injured in a collision involving one of your vehicles, and what was the total amount of this compensation?”

In Shropshire there was one claim which cost the force £650. In Telford there were six claims costing a total of £12,804.95.

Force spokesperson Toby Shergold said: “These repair costs cover 61 incidents in Shropshire and 62 in Telford & Wrekin where damage was done to police vehicles, which averages out at £1,200 cost for each incident. More than a third of these collisions were due to third party actions.

“Policing is a high-risk job and officers in Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin respond to tens of thousands of emergency incidents a year. They also cover more than three million miles a year, which means a collision occurs around every 25,000 miles driven by our officers.

“Thankfully the vast majority of these are minor collisions, but our officers are trained that when they are driving to an emergency, and even when they are not, the safety of the public is always at the forefront of their mind.”

By Emma Kasprzak