TWO-THIRDS of readers on thepress.co.uk said it was unacceptable that North Yorkshire Police spent a quarter of a million pounds on hire cars in 10 months.

As revealed in The Press on Friday, the force was invoiced for a total of £267,649.56 by Enterprise Rent-A-Car for vehicle fuel, hire and lease - an amount which could pay the annual wage of 13 new frontline PCs - between April 2017 and February this year.

A poll on The Press website was taken by 241 readers, with 65 per cent saying the spending was not acceptable, while 35 per cent said it was.

North Yorkshire Police said it took a "balanced approach" to supplying transport - with a mix of owned, pooled and hire vehicles to ensure best value. It added that the contract was "competitively tendered".

One reader commented “why don’t they just buy a few more normal cars?”.