“As there appears to be a continuing interest in Monday's story about police car collisions, I thought it was worth clarifying the figures which were released to the Lincolnshire Echo under the Freedom of Information Act. Our recording processes changed after the 2007/08 year and the figures released for 2008/09, like the previous years, included all minor paintwork damage and items such as windscreen and wing mirror replacements. The figures for actual collisions in 2008/09 totalled 130 incidents. Even these include incidents of criminal damage to police vehicles and where police vehicles are rammed during incidents. Using this figure and the 7.5 million miles travelled by our vehicles in 2008/09 it provides an average of 57,490 miles between each incident. As I have already said, every collision where a police driver is considered 'at fault' is carefully investigated and where it is considered that re-training is appropriate, that will be carried out before the officer is allowed to drive police cars again.

Tony Diggins
Coporate Communications
Lincolnshire Police HQ”

“Last week three times I saw police using their mobile phones whilst driving!”

“So thats why we have so many new cars in the compound,. because the old one are in the garage being repaired. coupled with putting the wrong fuel in the car the police driving skills are not that good really are they.”

“So thats why we have so many new cars in the compound,. because the old one are in the garage being repaired. coupled with putting the wrong fuel the police driving skills are not that good really are they.”

“yes lynn but the police officers who caused the accident when they ran into my sons car did not do a breath test they were taken away from the sceen of the accident by there officer in charge it shows on court papers they did not do a breath test my question would be why”

“"Senior officers at Lincolnshire Police have launched a robust defence of driving standards ¿ and say crashes only occur about once every 29,000 miles."

If I crashed once every 29,000 miles, I'd be a very poor man indeed!”

“All members' of the public are requested to take a breath test when a collision occurs, it's normal procedure.”

“my son had a head on crash with a police car they said he was at fault the courts said different my son was breathalised they were not any one involved in an accident should be breathalised police included my son is still waiting for compensation for the damage to his car”

“Until recently I lived in Lincoln and had done all my life. I also happen to know some police officers in Lincoln.
This story is not news. It does not provide me with any kind of enlightenment or useful information about what is happening around my old stomping ground. It is instead yet another headline in a string of pointless stories published by The Echo, designed to stoke up animosity towards a vital public service which is staffed by hard working individuals putting their safety at risk on a daily basis to protect the people of Lincolnshire.
I accept the press have a duty to present information to the public, and in some respects are an unnofficial watchdog for organisations within the public sector that spend public money. To that end it is right that injustices or circumstances that cause concern should be revealed to the public. However these stories should be well balanced, and the full facts presented to allow people to make up their own mind. It is clear from this story that Echo has presented a one sided no news story, which sadly is likely to stoke up negative feelings towards the police unnecessarily, and consequently make their difficult task even harder to achieve.”

“The full response provided by our Fleet Manager, Jim Ryan to the Lincolnshire Echo was as follows: "The 433 vehicles in the Lincolnshire Police fleet travel seven and a half million miles a year (to be exact it was 7,473,578 in the 2008/09 financial year). That is 17,260 for each vehicle and an average of 28,634 miles travelled for each collision recorded in the 08/09 year (261 recorded).

We are not complacent about standards of driving and before anyone is permitted to drive an official vehicle they are given a level of instruction commensurate with their duties. The level and intensity of the training increases with the levels of responsibility expected of the drivers and they are all aware, if they are trained in emergency response, that however urgent the call, the prime consideration must be the safety of the public and the police officers themselves.

Every collision where a police driver is considered 'at fault', is carefully examined and where it is considered that re-training is appropriate that will be carried out before that officer is allowed to drive official cars again."

In response to one of the posted comments, in serious cases, it is the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) and the Crown Prosecution Service which, respectively, investigate and decide whether a prosecution is appropriate.

In less serious cases, the criteria in deciding whether to prosecute is the same for members of the public and police officers on duty.

Tony Diggins
Corporate Communications
Lincolnshire Police”