Police cars breaking down 29 times a day with some vehicles over 25 years old

5 Jan 2024

EMBARGO: 00:01 Saturday 6th January

Police vehicles in England and Wales broke down over 10,000 times in 20\23
Some vehicles still in use are up to 25 years old, while 40% of vehicles are 5 years old or over
Liberal Democrats warn police are being left “without the tools they need to keep us safe”

Police vehicles broke down an average of 29 times a day in 2023, amounting to over 10,000 incidents in total, research by the Liberal Democrats has revealed.

The figures were uncovered through Freedom of Information requests by the Liberal Democrats to police forces across England and Wales.

The police force which suffered the highest number of breakdowns was the Met - with a staggering total of 16,091 incidents since 2019. This was followed by Suffolk who saw 9,875 breakdowns, and Norfolk with 8,780.

The data also included disturbing revelations about the age of police vehicles. Of the 33 police forces who responded, nearly 40% of police vehicles were 5 years old or older, while 7% were more than 10 years old.

Some forces had particularly old fleets. 24% of both Leicestershire and Norfolk’s fleets were more than 10 years old. In Hampshire & the Isle of Wight, 14% of vehicles were more than 10 years old.

The oldest vehicle on record was possessed by Cheshire Police, which was 25 years old. Twelve other forces also possessed vehicles which were over 20 years old.

The Liberal Democrats have blamed the Conservative Government for these appalling figures, arguing that years of ineffective resourcing have left local police forces ill-equipped to get on with the basics of stopping crime.

The party is calling for a return to proper community policing, where local forces have the resources they need to respond to neighbourhood crime.

Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson, Alistair Carmichael MP said:

“Local police are being left without the tools that they need to keep us safe. How can officers be expected to get on with fighting crime if they don’t even have working vehicles?

“This is just another consequence of frontline policing being side-lined by this Conservative Government.

“Our communities deserve better. The Home Secretary must restore effective community policing - which must include giving our officers the resources they require to do that job.”

ENDS

Notes to Editor:

The FOI data can be found here.

The FOI questions that were asked:

How many of your force's currently operational vehicles are over five years old?

How many of your force's currently operational vehicles are over 10 years old?

What is your force's oldest operational vehicle?

How many currently operational vehicles does your force possess?

How many of your force's vehicles broke down for each of the years a) 2019, b) 2020, c) 2021, d) 2022, e) 2023?