Bungled Re-Fuelling A Massive Waste Of Tax-Payer Cash

9.00.00am GMT Thu 7th Jan 2010

Local MP Sarah Teather wants to expose wasteful spending so we can put more officers on Brent's streets

Liberal Democrat Brent East MP Sarah Teather has uncovered new figures which show that the Metropolitan Police have spent over a quarter of a million pounds fixing vehicles accidentally filled with the wrong fuel.

In response to a Freedom of Information request, the Metropolitan Police revealed that, since June 2006, the wrong type of fuel had been used on 912 separate occasions, with a total repair bill to the taxpayer of £277,850.

Liberal Democrat MP for Brent East Sarah Teather said:

"The public will be simply incredulous to learn that tough policemen who spend their days fighting crime don't seem to know how to fill up a petrol tank. Would it really be that hard to put a little sticker on each cap showing the type of fuel that the car takes?

"This kind of bungling is costing us serious money. If you borrowed a friend's car you would ask what type of fuel it takes and then return it in one piece: the Met need to learn to take the same care of expensive equipment bought for them by the taxpayer.

"Taxpayer's cash should be spent on making London safer, not on cleaning up after policemen who can't work out how to fill a tank properly. We need to cut down on wasteful spending and put more police on Brent's streets instead."

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