Police force crashes 453 cars in two years

A police force forked out £124,000 after bungling cops crashed a staggering 453 patrol cars – in just two years.

Amazingly, one in five crashes involved officers bumping into STATIONARY objects like walls and bollards.

Leicestershire Police admitted officers crashed 453 times in the last two years – an average of FOUR-A-WEEK.

The force spent £40,000 repairing or replacing cars damaged when officers reversed into walls or drove over kerbs.

Nearly 30 collisions happened as a result of car chases and 20 crashes were caused by officers skidding on snow and ice.

In one case, a police van about to turn right was hit from behind by a coach carrying schoolchildren.

In another, a police driver ran over his colleague’s foot as he reached into the back of the vehicle for a high-visibility jacket.

Others happened when police cars smashed into buildings or walls while drivers were trying to park or handle tight manoeuvres.

Sgt Jim Walton, the force’s head of driver training, said: ”It is inevitable that accidents happened when hundreds of police cars travelled millions of miles every year.”

Last year the force introduced a penalty system to punish officers who repeatedly crashed.

Officers received two points for reversing into a bollard, and eight points for rear-ending another vehicle.

If they rack up 12 points in three years, they are disqualified from driving for a month and forced to take a refresher course.

Sgt Walton said: ”Nobody has been disqualified yet but if this reduces the number of collisions, it will be well worth it.

”One collision is too many for me, but police officers are only human beings and mistakes will happen.”

A police spokesman added that many of the collisions were ”very minor in nature”.

The force refused to confirm how much of the £124,000 was paid for by the insurance company.