Yorkshire police confident of no repeat of £240k Grand Depart overtime burden

With just days to go until the inaugural Tour de Yorkshire cycle race, figures obtained by The Yorkshire Post shed light on how the region’s police forces had to foot a combined overtime bill which fell outside the Government’s £27million national Tour budget last year.

West Yorkshire Police alone spent almost £164,000 on more than 5,900 overtime hours on July 5 and 6 last year at a time when the force is in the midst of trying to save £163.5million by 2016/17 due to Government cutbacks.

Assistant Chief Constable Mark Milsom, who led the police operation last year and will do so again this week, has reassured taxpayers that the burden will be far less on the police this year.

A “bubble” of around 60 highly-trained motorcycle riders, which co-organisers Welcome to Yorkshire have pledged to fully fund at £300,000, will allow rolling road closures from May 1 to 3 while fewer officers will be needed en route.

Mr Milsom said: “There is bound to be some overtime because that is the nature of the beast, but I think it will be very small indeed. It won’t make an impact.

“We are not going to have to budget for it. Last year we had to have officers in hours and hours ahead.”

Last year, of the national £27m Tour budget, only £435,000 was issued to police for planning but nothing was allocated for extra on-the-ground policing costs.

North Yorkshire Police announced it would use an existing surplus to cover its overtime costs, which amounted to more than £25,000, while South Yorkshire Police spent over £41,000 on overtime.

Le Tour saw around 3.3m spectators watch from the roadside around the county whereas the Tour de Yorkshire is expected to see closer to one million visitors.

Mr Milsom said: “There will be big crowds but for a shorter period of time and it will be easier to get to it. We have to do that because we can’t throw public money at it.”

Around 100 neighbourhood policing officers and as many special constables will be on duty during each day of the Tour de Yorkshire, which will be managed by West Yorkshire Police, North Yorkshire Police and Humberside Police.

In addition around 1,100 volunteer Tour Makers, who were trained last year for the Tour de France, will also act as marshals and helpers during the Tour de Yorkshire having undergone refresher training at Carr Gate, in Wakefield.

Gary Verity, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, said that Le Tour’s sheer size meant that “naturally there would be an elevated policing requirement” but that all investment saw a “hugely positive return”.

He said: “The police did a fantastic job policing the grandest ever Grand Depart of the Tour de France. Compared to the Tour de France last year, the Tour de Yorkshire requires considerably less policing to deliver the race and we’re all working closely to minimise disruption and maximise the economic and wider benefits to the whole county.”

Friday, May 1, will see riders racing from Bridlington to Scarborough via Whitby and Robin Hood’s Bay before they make their way from Selby to York the following day.

Then, on May 3, the field will set out riding from Wakefield through to the finish line in Leeds’s Roundhay Park.