More than 900 West Mercia Police cars crash in three years

Data released under the Freedom of Information Act shows that 949 vehicles belonging to West Mercia Police have been involved in crashes across the region since the start of 2013.

More than 300 of the vehicles involved in the collisions were unmarked, according to the figures.

The force today said that despite the figures, its officers receive the highest standard of training possible when it comes to driving police vehicles.

A force spokesman said: "West Mercia Police adheres to nationally approved driver training standards which are governed by the College of Policing.

"These standards provide a robust mechanism to ensure officers are supported to carry out driving duties at standard and advance levels.

"Officers receive vehicle and role specific training to allow them to perform operational driving roles to the highest level, with refresher courses every five years as standard and advanced training delivered more frequently where roles require it.

"West Mercia Police vehicles are fitted with incident data recorders (IDRs) to track relevant information that can be accessed in the event of a collision."

Throughout 2014 and 2015, a total of 23 people were injured in crashes involving West Mercia Police vehicles. Due to a change in the force's insurance providers, it is not known how many people were injured in 2013. There have been no fatalities.

West Mercia Police ranked joint fifth alongside Kent Police in a list of forces that had vehicles written off in crashes last year.

In 2015, the police had written off more than 400 cars in crashes within a year – 12 of which were West Mercia Police vehicles, the force which covers Shropshire, Telford, Herefordshire and Worcestershire. Overall, nationally the crashes left forces with a bill close to £3 million for replacements.

Details of destroyed vehicles were provided by 40 of the 46 forces in the UK. They revealed 362 vehicles were written off but the total is likely to have topped 400 with the six missing police areas factored in.

In 2007 the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) asked forces to put black boxes in their motors and for traffic cars to have CCTV cameras.

Some have done so but the IPCC said: "Police forces that do not have this equipment risk damaging confidence.

"If more information about an incident is available, it provides stronger accountability."

John O'Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said something needed to be done to cut down the number of crashes to stop taxpayers' money being used on higher insurance bills. He said: "This number is worryingly high.

"Of course accidents do happen but there is clearly a problem if there is almost a crash a day.

"It's important that police bosses now get a grip on the problem so that taxpayers' money isn't wasted so needlessly."

A spokesman for safety charity Brake said: "The police must be able to respond to emergencies but this must be balanced with potential danger to the public."