Patrol car has one flat tyre... so Scotland Yard replaces all of them for £500

Published 26th Nov 2010

When a mechanic was called out to a puncture on a police car, he replaced all four tyres and even the spare in the boot.

Although the other three tyres were all in good condition and the spare was brand new, the contract employee insisted that he had to change them all because the tyres all had to be the same make.

The incident was revealed after a constable in the Metropolitan Police questioned the practice, which is believed to apply to all forces.

Although police insiders say the rule is ‘farcical’, Scotland Yard defended changing all the tyres, saying it was sometimes the ‘most economic decision’.

A premium brand tyre costs about £100, meaning the cost of changing all four tyres and the spare is around £500 a time.

The Met alone has to slash 20 per cent off its £3.5billion budget in the next four years.

PC Ken Brown, of Barking and Dagenham police, said he was amazed when he got a puncture recently and the mechanic who turned up whipped off all four tyres before hauling the spare out of the boot and replacing that as well.

Writing to The Job, an in-house magazine for Met employees, he said: ‘I asked why this was and was told that a police vehicle must have the same make of tyres on every wheel.

‘With the recent announcement of cutbacks within the Met, I feel I should mention this.’

Nigel Jakubowski, director of transport services at the Met, confirmed that all the tyres had to be changed if they were different makes.

He explained that sometimes it was also ‘more economic’ to change them all. He said: ‘The decision to change all the tyres arises when the tyre model fitted to the vehicle is either no longer available, or there will be a significant delay in the order.

‘However, in some circumstances the changing of all the tyres is in fact the most economic decision as the Met procures specific tyre brands through a Government Procurement Framework at significantly reduced cost.’

There are around 35,000 police vehicles in the UK.

A police source said that at a conservative estimate around 20 per cent of them suffer a flat each year.

Source: ' Daily Mail '

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