Police accused of criminal waste of money over £10m car hire bill

The revelations come at a time when forces face cuts, as the Government expects public services to tighten up their spending.

Of the four Yorkshire forces, West Yorkshire spent the most on renting cars.

It spent 4,443,791.53 over the last five years despite owning 1,245 vehicles – the biggest fleet of any force.

South Yorkshire came second, spending 2,519,946.95. It owns 800 vehicles.

Humberside spent 1,766,293 and own 653 vehicles, and North Yorkshire spent 921,406 alongside owning and maintaining its 512 vehicles.

Nationally, 132m was spent by police forces on rented cars, or half a million pounds a week, according to the Liberal Democrats who released the information.

But South Yorkshire Police Chief Constable Meredydd Hughes attacked the Lib Dems, accusing them of failing to understand policing needs.

He said: "The Liberal Democrats would do better to come and ask South Yorkshire Police how we are spending the money rather than wasting everyone's time trying to get publicity for their party.

"I will be writing to all political parties inviting them to contact me if they have any issues rather than working through the media.

"South Yorkshire Police is proud of the way it uses the public's resources. We hire cars to transport officers investigating major incidents such as murder inquiries, terrorist incidents and other major crimes. We also hire specialist vehicles in very bad weather, for example where there are problems like flooding. This is much more cost-effective than owning the cars full time."

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne, who uncovered the figures, said: "At a time when police budgets are under extreme pressure, it seems unnecessarily lavish to be spending over 70,000 a day on hire cars.

"Hiring cars at appropriate times can save forces money but if they are being hired while police cars are not in use, it is simply a waste of taxpayers' money."

In total, 132,312,000 has been spent on hire cars since 2004.

The Metropolitan Police, the country's largest force, spent nearly

50m.

West Midlands Police spent nearly 10m in the same period.

Taxpayers' Alliance chief executive Matthew Elliot said: "If the bill for hire cars is going into the tens of millions, it's time the police looked again at their procurement strategy and started buying more cars rather than hiring them.

"Everybody knows that it is more expensive in the long run to rent something so the police should economise and spend our money more wisely by buying cars rather than hiring them."

A spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers said: "Transportation is key in policing and these figures reveal nothing about why hire cars may be used and provide good value for money.

"Obviously marked police vehicles are used daily but some aspects of policing, such as covert work, need unmarked vehicles and hiring them can be cheaper rather than owning them.

"It can also be cheaper than using trains or claiming costs for using officers' own vehicles. Hire vehicles make up approximately eight per cent of all transport costs."

Humberside Police, West Yorkshire Police and North Yorkshire Police were all contacted to comment on the figures, but were yesterday unavailable to respond.