Apology over camp-bed conditions for officers policing Trump visit

The accommodation originally offered to officers drafted in to police President Trump's visit

Hundreds of officers were given cramped lines of camp beds filling a vast gymnasium and sleeping mats on the floor of squash courts between long shifts policing the US president’s trip.

Essex Police’s Assistant Chief Constable Pippa Mills apologised for the conditions the force imposed on officers staying in the county, having come from across the UK to join the operation.

She said: “The conditions which I have been made aware of are not acceptable. Working with our military partners we have found alternative accommodation.”

Officers from all four Yorkshire forces are involved in the operation, which is expected to cost up to Â£10m.

Pete Musgrave, Police Federation representative for Humberside Police, which sent 85 officers, said he was glad the issue had been sorted out.

“We don’t want the earth, just somewhere suitable - and that wasn’t suitable,” he said.

“It does beg the question why it was allowed to happen in the first place.”

Simon Kempton, the federation's deputy treasurer in England and Wales, said officers at the site had only been averaging three to four hours' sleep ahead of 15-hour shifts because of the conditions.

He said: "These officers have been asked to leave their families to travel to another part of the country to help protect the public and the president and all they expect in return is to be treated with some dignity and respect.

"What's clear is that anyone overnight who has been arrested by the police would be put in accommodation far superior to what the officers are staying in."

Earlier in the day, Shadow Policing Minister Louise Haigh had asked an urgent question about the matter in Parliament, saying it was no "way to treat our overstretched officers".

Policing Minister Nick Hurd thanked her for raising the issue, saying: "She is right to do so. Those concerns have been raised directly with Essex police and are being managed."

The controversial president's visit has prompted one of the UK's biggest ever police operations, with thousands of officers on duty.

During Mr Trump's trip he will meet the Queen and Prime Minister Theresa May as he visits locations including Blenheim Palace, Chequers, Windsor Castle, the US ambassador's official residence in Regent's Park, London, and Scotland.