NORTH Yorkshire Police are looking for volunteers from the public to perform vehicle checks on their fleet of police cars.

The police advertisement welcomes anyone to apply who enjoys maintaining cars and is prepared to commit to two to three hours per week on a regular basis.

The work involves being responsible for carrying out everyday checks to ensure that police vehicles meet the required operational standards.

The checklist for each vehicle includes looking at vehicle lights, emergency lights, tyres, oil, screen wash, first aid kit, road signs and cones, as well as washing the cars and removing rubbish from inside the vehicle and vacuum.

The volunteer checker then is required to enter all information from these tests on to a police computer system, signposting missing equipment and damage to any vehicle.

Only volunteers over 21 will be allowed to move police vehicles to comply with NYP authorised driver requirements. Under-21s may undertake vehicle checks but not drive vehicles.

There are vacancies in York at Fulford Road Police Station and Athena House, Clifton Moor, as well as outlying police stations at Tadcaster, Settle and

Malton.

Am I missing something? Had it been April 1, I would have taken this advertisement in merriment, but this is a serious request from the North Yorkshire Police requesting volunteers to provide safety checks on police vehicles.

Have they thought through the implications of where the blame would lie if any police vehicle was involved in a road traffic accident?

Robert Porter,

Crayke