Police chief: Controversial cars not value for money

11:52am Thursday 29th November 2007

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A POLICE chief has announced plans to remove company cars from senior officers after an audit found they did not provide value for money.

For the past three years North Yorkshire Police's superintendents and chief superintendents have been provided with Volvo V70s or Land Rover Discovery's for operational and personal use.

Now a review of the policy by North Yorkshire Police Authority's auditors has found the costs do not justify the operational need.

North Yorkshire's new Chief Constable, Grahame Maxwell, backed the review and announced he intends to replace all of these vehicles with either a basic mileage allowance for officers who use their own vehicles, or a vehicle equivalent to a standard Vauxhall Astra that will be part of the Force's fleet and 'kitted out' for operational use.

Mr Maxwell said: "As finances get tighter we are looking across the organisation at how we can do things more efficiently and this is just one aspect."

The purchase of the company cars caused an outcry in 2004, coming after two years of large rises in the police precept, including a 76 per cent rise in 2003.

Plans to remove the vehicles have been welcomed by Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Phil Willis, a long-term critic of North Yorkshire Police's past spending.

"Reading the report it is incredible that this scheme could ever have been considered," he said.