From the Daily Post:
"Careless cops who put the wrong fuel into police vehicles have cost North Wales taxpayers nearly £14,000 since 2009.
Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act shows bungling North Wales Police officers have refuelled vehicles incorrectly on more than 75 occasions during that period.
The mishaps have led to a whopping bill of £13,962.80 – all of which is public money used for repair work including flushing out the wrong fuel.
Despite the force fitting the majority of its fleet with a bright yellow flap that says ‘diesel’ on the filler cap since 2006, bobbies have continued to make the refuelling error although incidents have been on the decline during the past three years.
A North Wales Police spokesman said: “Although it is unfortunate that any mistakes are made when putting fuel into our vehicles, there are relatively few incidents. In 2014 there were eight such incidents out of a total 34,014 fuel transactions.”
Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, says the public deserve better.
He explained: “The authorities simply cannot afford to waste taxpayers’ money on these costly mistakes, particularly at a time when colleagues within the force are facing pay freeze or worse.
“The authorities must pull their socks up, taxpayers deserve better.”
The most recent errors happened within the space of two days – July 22 and 24 this year – with repair bills totalling £424.
Back in 2009, there were a total of 18 refuelling errors which cost the taxpayer £4,065.49. The biggest repair bill that year was £1,477 – the largest over the seven year period –while the lowest was £60.
There was a drop in incidents during 2010 with 11 errors leading to a £1,695.97 bill, while in 2011 there were 12 at a total cost of £2,468.78.
In 2012 there were 16 incidents resulting in a £2,355.95 bill, but 2013 saw a drop with nine at a cost of £1,606.53 to the taxpayer.
Last year there were eight refuelling errors which led to a repair bill of £1,197.17, while 2015 has seen just three cases at a combined cost of 3572.91.
In its Freedom of Information response to the request made by the Daily Post for the period of 2013-15, North Wales Police state: “Vehicle manufacturers in recent years have identified that drivers filling vehicles with incorrect fuel had become an everyday issue and have put measures in place to prevent this.
“Older vehicles in our fleet are fitted with a bright yellow flap with ‘diesel’ clearly marked on it that covers the filler cap. Newer vehicles have fuel filler caps that fit the nozzles on fuel forecourts that are now fitted on to vehicles as standard specifically to prevent mis-fuelling.”
