INCIDENTS in which its vehicles have been damaged have left North Yorkshire Police bosses with a £140,000 garage bill.

The force has spent £139,679 repairing its own damaged vehicles since January 1, according to new police figures.

In addition, bosses have been forced to pay out £56,870 in damages to third parties and a further £8,108 in legal costs.

The number of incidents that leave police vehicles damaged are also increasing steadily, with 154 vehicles damaged in the three months up to the end of September.

By comparison, 144 vehicles were damaged in the preceding period, and 124 in the three months before that.

The incidents include anything that left a police vehicle damaged, regardless of fault or cause, from broken windscreens and minor vandalism, to vehicle pile ups.

In a report, Simon Binks, fleet manager, said officers cover 9.6 million miles every year on patrol.

He said data from accidents and damage incidents is collected and used to tailor officer and staff training to improve safety and cut down costs.

He said a large amount of work is taking place behind the scenes to analyse the amount of risk that exists in all functions of the force.

He said: "An integral part of the programme of work will be to examine whether, and in what manner, the role of training as a risk control might be adapted or improved so as to better manage risk within North Yorkshire Police."

Chief Constable Della Cannings presented his report to members of the Police Authority, the force's watchdog. They had asked for more details about the toll of damage and accidents on vehicles and staff.

The report reveals that in the three months ending on September 30, the largest number of damage incidents (49) occurred in the eastern area, followed by force headquarters (42), western area (34) and finally the York and Selby central area (27).

In that time, the majority of incidents (43) involved a collision between two vehicles, followed by single vehicle collisions (35).

Two three-vehicle accidents took place, 11 windscreens were replaced and 15 other repairs were undertaken.

In total 15 incidents of criminal damage against police vehicles were recorded. A further 33 incidents of "found damage", of which the cause is not known, were recorded.

Updated: 10:26 Thursday, October 27, 2005