Cumbria police's six-figure spend on hiring cars in just one year revealed

Cumbria Constabulary spent £164,302 on private hire vehicles between April 2015 and March 2016, new figures show.

Across the North West's five policing authorities, a total of £1,196,556 was spent on hiring the cars, with Lancashire Constabulary the biggest spender, splashing out £529,285.

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The hire bill has been criticised by the TaxPayers' Alliance, a pressure group which campaigns for government transparency and an end to wasteful spending. The group says the amount is indicative of poor management.

John O'Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayer's Alliance, said: "Spending so much on hire cars smacks of bad organisation and it is important that the constabularies explain why they use them and why the prices they paid vary so widely.

"Not only does poor planning lead to higher costs, local taxpayers will be fed up with seeing their hard-earned money wasted on avoidable situations like this.

"The bill for these hire cars is over £3,000 per day so it is vital that all forces negotiate hard to deliver better value for money for taxpayers."

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The figures came to light following a parliamentary question tabled by Preston Labour MP Mark Hendrick.

Outside of Cumbria and Lancashire, the figures break down as:

- £87,411 in Greater Manchester

- £209,474 in Cheshire

- £206,084 in Merseyside

A spokesman for Cumbria Constabulary said: "Private hire cars are only used for essential business travel for officers and staff travelling within the county, or to other force areas across the country on operations , investigations, training etc.

"Each request for travel is scrutinised to ensure the journey is essential prior to organising a hire car.

"The constabulary uses a collaborative procurement framework to ensure any spend is cost effective and we work hard to continually reduce costs."