Police’s Fleet Of Old Bangers As Some Vehicles Date Back To The 1980s, Figures Show | UK | News – INDIRAPK.CLUB

One force even owns a vehicle dating from 1986 – 36 years ago. The revelation comes as ministers are accused of squeezing police budgets, leaving them unable to ditch ageing and unreliable old bangers.

More than 1,500 cars over 10 years old are still in police use, Freedom of Information requests by the Liberal Democrats show.

Revealing one motor in West Yorkshire is a “shocking” 36 years old, the party’s Home Affairs Spokesman Alistair Carmichael said: “When the car was first registered, Lionel Messi hadn’t been born, the Pet Shop Boys were topping the charts, and Google was still a decade away.

“How can a car past its prime be reliable in an emergency?” The data do not reveal what policing tasks old vehicles are still used for.

Four other areas – Avon and Somerset, Suffolk, Police Scotland and Hertfordshire – operate vehicles more than 20 years old, marking them as “classic” cars.

Mr Carmichael added: “Of course, the police need to maximise their resources but their fleets are not the place to cut corners.

“To ensure crucial parts of their jobs, like high-speed chases, are safe, the police should be using modern, fit-for-purpose vehicles, not cars older than the people driving them.”

He accused the Government of “running budgets into the ground” and warned it was “making it harder” for officers to do their jobs effectively.

Provisional funding deals will see forces in England and Wales receive a 3.6 percent cash increase in the current year, well below the rate of inflation, which is currently above 10 percent.