Five-year police car crash total at 3,500

More than 3,500 police cars have crashed on roads in the West Midlands over the past five years, the Express & Star can reveal today.

Figures released through the Freedom of Information Act show last year there was 740 police cars involved in a crash in the region. In total between July 2003 and July 2008 there were 3,666 occasions where police cars were involved in road traffic collisions. The highest year was 2003/2004 when there was 862 collisions. In 2004/2005 there were 773 crashes and in 2005/ 2006 there were 698.

This was followed by 593 in 2006/2007 and 740 in 2007/2008.

Paul Biggs, of the Association of British Drivers, a campaigning group for motorists, said: "It seems quite high although obviously these are not necessarily all the police's fault. I am a bit baffled about why there would be so many. Police drivers should be trained to the highest standards."

West Midlands Police say the figures have been calculated using insurance claim data and say it may be subject to inaccuracies because it uses such a large scale recording system.

Meanwhile it has also been revealed that £700,000 has been spent by West Midlands Police on agency or temporary staff in the last financial year.

Figures also released to the Express & Star through the Freedom of Information Act show the force's expenditure on agency and temporary staff in 2007/2008 was £705,750

Workers have been employed in areas such as administration and clerical jobs, nursing, and computing imputing duties.

West Midlands Police say the figure equates to less than one per cent of police staff expenditure.

Force spokeswoman Catherine Preece said: "West Midlands Police employs temporary staff to provide extra resources to cover short-term projects and staffing shortages.

"These staff are subject to the same security vetting processes as any permanent member of staff and the force uses them, where necessary, in a variety of roles to maintain its delivery of service to the community."