More than 80 people in collisions with police vehicles in Wigan

According to data obtained by the Post under the Freedom of Information Act, Greater Manchester Police’s cars and vans were caught up in 119 crashes between January 1 2015 and December 31 2017.

There were 43 road smashes last year alone, 30 of which involved third parties (members of the public).

Out of this total, 11 of the incidents resulted in people being injured, although the severity of the injuries, or indeed whether those hurt were officers or civilians, has not been revealed.

In 2016, 34 collisions occurred, 25 of which involved public vehicles. Only two injuries were sustained during these incidents.

That number was slightly higher in the year prior, with 2015 seeing 42 collisions, 27 involving third parties. Again, only a couple of injuries were picked up.

An FOI request was also submitted to find the full cost of repairs for any damages caused during the collisions, but was unsuccessful due to the cost of correlating such figures. There was also no indication of who was at fault for the incidents.

There have been court cases in recent months in which it was revealed that police cars were rammed by suspect vehicles they were trying to stop.

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said: “We have 1,493 vehicles across the force, which covered over 17 million miles last year as officers performed their duty in keeping the people of Greater Manchester safe.

“Driving by its very nature carries inherent risk, which is increased if police officers are responding to incidents with their emergency equipment activated.

“Our officers who drive GMP vehicles are given comprehensive training and always carry out a risk assessment, avoiding wherever possible, situations that could put other road users in danger.”

“If any GMP officer or staff member is involved in a collision, a supervisor is sent to the scene to establish what has happened and compile a report.

Every collision which involved a police vehicle will have been assessed by GMP’s Driver Standards Board, to go through all aspects of the collision and verify if any action needs to be taken.

“GMP records any breach of our driving policy, allowing us to identify poor standards in driving so that we can take swift action if any issue is raised.”

Joshua Harris, Director of Campaigns at road safety charity Brake, said: “Brake urges all road users, including police officers responding to emergencies, to have safety as their primary concern.

“The police must ensure that they utilise all tools at their disposal, such as sirens and flashing lights, to alert other road users to the increased risk when speeding or overtaking manoeuvres are required.”