New police tsar faces expenses inquiry

Lancashire PCC Clive Grunshaw requested an independent investigation into expenses claims he made while a Labour county councillor and police authority member before his election to the top job last month.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said yesterday it would investigate the claims, which emerged in an article in The Sunday Times.

The issues are reported to concern mileage claims when he attended meetings of the council and the police authority on the same days, and were revealed following a freedom of information request from a local Conservative councillor.

A spokesman for the IPCC said: “The Independent Police Complaints Commission is to independently investigate allegations made against Lancashire’s police and crime commissioner.

“The allegations centre on 
expenses claims made by 
Clive Grunshaw before his election in November to the office of PCC.

“The matter was referred to the IPCC by Lancashire’s Police and Crime Panel, which scrutinises the work of the PCC, on Tuesday following an article in The Sunday Times.

“Commissioner Nicholas Long will have oversight of the investigation.”

In a statement on Monday, Mr Grunshaw called for an investigation and said he had “not wilfully submitted claims which I know to be untrue”.