A POLICE chief yesterday defended her decision to spend an estimated £500,000 on cars for her senior officers.

North Yorkshire chief constable Della Cannings hit back at her critics and said the vehicles were essential for a modern force covering a rural area with 6,000 miles of roads.

She said the vehicles - known as command platforms and which have police radio systems, satellite navigation and police lights - were a key tool for dealing with major incidents such as the Selby rail disaster, flooding and the upcoming Royal Ascot meeting to be held at York.

"It's absolutely right that superintendent ranks have the appropriate vehicles to carry out their duties effectively and provide extra proactive work across North Yorkshire and in the city of York," she told the county's police authority yesterday.

"They clearly need to be able to respond to those critical incidents we have seen and other reports of incidents where those first few hours are absolutely critical.

"Since I joined the force two years ago, I have insisted they have that 24-hour cover across the force at that level."

The chief constable was responding to claims the vehicles were not value for money.

Harrogate's Liberal Democrat MP, Phil Willis, attacked the purchase, saying the force was buying "luxury" cars when officers were struggling to patrol towns.

But authority members were told options such as car leasing, pool cars and individual purchasing were not appropriate for cost, tax, insurance and operational reasons.

The force bought 25 diesel cars for officers of superintendent rank and above - ten Land Rover Discoveries and 15 Volvo V70s.

The meeting was told the cars will increase the proportion of four-wheel drive vehicles, and enable superintendents to run operations from anywhere in the county 24 hours a day.

Chief Superintendent David Short said: "If I were to be expected to use my own vehicle, it would be wasting valuable time getting to a police station to pick one up.

"It is as critical to me as my radio and my handcuffs. It's an absolutely essential piece of equipment for our use."

Authority member Jim Fender said: "This mirrors the police authority's determination to make sure we get the maximum amount of equipment we can updated to the best possible standard for doing the job."