Cop Car Fuel Confusion Cost £1million

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Bungling police who can't tell their petrol from their diesel have wasted £1 million in the last three years, just by grabbing the wrong pump in petrol stations.

Date - 8th June 2009
Courtesy of - Ananova

For the past three years, the repair bill has averaged £6,500 a week with four cars a day requiring engines to be flushed of the wrong fuel, reports the Daily Mirror.

In addition the costs of engine repairs, labour and having the right juice put back in have all totted up to a seven-figure bill.

The worst offender was London's Met, who wasted £194,212 in only three years. Officers filled their tanks with the wrong fuel a whopping 671 times.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Taxpayers' Allowance said: "It is shocking that so many police cars are being wrecked by stupid errors. Every car damaged is thousands of pounds diverted away from the fight against crime. One would hope our police were more on the ball."

Liberal Dem MP Chris Huhne suggested: "Surely the solution is big, colour-coded stickers on the tank caps so officers don't mess up."

It's a system that's already tried and failed. North Wales cops brought in luminous yellow caps that screamed "Diesel" yet they still made 39 mishaps throughout 2006.