Tax payer cops expenses for hire cars for police

It has been revealed late last week that the tax payer has been paying up to £2,000 per day on car rentals for the Welsh Police Force. According to information released, this has been on going for the past five years. The Welsh forces in question have been heavily criticised for the estimated £4 million bill between 2004 and 2009, by the Liberal Democrats and the Taxpayers Alliance. This is just a small step in the water for the bigger picture as it emerged that the whole of the UK has spent £132 million in the same time period.

The chief executive of the Taxpayers Alliance, Matthew Elliot, has said that it would have surely cost less for the police to buy more cars rather that carry on hiring vehicles. Long term leasing will cost more than actual buying of a car and Mr Elliot has asked the police to look again at their spending and change their habits to one that is better of for the taxpayer.

In a statement the chief constable of South Yorkshire Police, Meredydd Hughes, has hit back at the Liberal Democrats saying that they are wasting people’s time and are just looking for publicity for their group. Mr Hughes says that it is more cost efficient for police to hire vehicles in certain circumstances. The South Yorkshire Police have spent just £2.5 million in the past five years. Some of these vehicle hire expenditure has had to spend on specialist vehicles for incidents like flooding and it is more cost effective to hire than buy.