Police spending more than £500,000 a week on hire cars

10.35.00pm GMT Mon 4th Jan 2010

Police forces in Britain have spent over £70,000 a day on hire cars over the last five years, according to research by the Liberal Democrats.

The figures, released following Freedom of Information requests to police forces, show:

• Between 2004 and 2009, police forces in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland spent £132m on hire cars

• This averages out at £72,500 a day or more than £500,000 a week

• This is the equivalent of buying two new BMW 5 Series every day, 14 a week or 3,650 of them over the course of five years

Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne commented, "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. The Association of Chief Police Officers should issue forces with guidance about the best use of hire cars."