Council vehicles in 90 crashes on Shropshire roads
Vehicles owned by Shropshire's two main councils have been involved in more than 90 crashes in three years, causing more than £20,000 of damage, new figures show.
Shropshire Council and Telford & Wrekin Council's fleet of vehicles were involved in 95 separate road traffic collisions since 2014, data released under the Freedom of Information Act reveals.
The crashes caused a total repair bill of £23,270.86. Telford & Wrekin Council managed to reclaim £4,261.20 from third parties over the three years.
Today, the authorities said they try to reclaim as much of the costs as they can.
Russell Griffin, spokesman for Telford & Wrekin Council, said: "The majority of the 43 accidents are bumper or wing mirror damage.
"A wing mirror replacement for a Telford & Wrekin minibus is £340. Often vehicles do not stop when these collisions happen in moving traffic.
"The council always tries to recoup as much money as possible when a third party is liable for damage. However it should be noted that the insurance industry will agree to settle costs where there is no admitted liability or the costs of claims are low and investigation costs would not be viable."
In 2014, Telford & Wrekin-owned vehicles were involved in 12 crashes, with a repair total of £5,342.70. The council recovered costs from third parties in three of the accidents totalling £260. In Shropshire, there were 25 incidents totalling £1,757.53.
The following year, Shropshire Council vehicles were involved in 14 crashes with a repair bill of £5,411.16. In Telford, there were 17 incidents involving council operated vehicles with a repair cost of £3,429. They managed to recover £2,655.96 from other parties.
Last year, Telford & Wrekin Council vehicles were involved in 14 collisions with a repair cost of £1,345.24, recovering £272. Shropshire Council vehicles were involved in 13 crashes, with a repair bill of £5,985.23.
Simon Jones, Shropshire Council's Cabinet member for highways and transportation, said the authority has a driver policy in place.
He said: "The council has in place a driver policy and as part of this driver assessments are carried out for any council employee who drives a council vehicle."
