Police.

Police have spent thousands of pounds sending suspected criminals home from the cells in taxis, it can be revealed today.

Six forces across the country booked cabs for people after they were released while two others admitted getting police officers to drive them home.

The figures sparked accusations that suspected are being pampered when they are booked into custody after being arrested on suspicion of criminal wrongdoing.


Officials claimed they had a duty of care to get 'criminals' home safely if they are released late at night rather than have them roaming the streets.

Separately. the figures revealed that police forces spent £17million on fleets of hire cars last year for occasions when their own unmarked cars were unavailable.

Scotland Yard was by far the biggest spender in the last financial year - blowing £9.2million on vehicles that included BMW, Audi, Mercedes and Alfa Romeo cars.

The force spent £5.9million hiring cars during the Olympics alone, according to figures released to the MailOnline under the Freedom of Information Act.

Thames Valley Police were the next biggest spenders and shelled out £965,945 on hired vehicles.

Police in Dorset, Durham, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Suffolk and North Wales all admitted using a slice of their hire car budget to pay taxi companies to drive suspects home.

In total, they said they spent £13,592 on cabs for at least 828 suspects, with North Wales Police blowing £4,151 on 318 journeys.

Northamptonshire Police paid £3,143 on taxis to drive 336 people home from the cells.

Kent and South Wales Police also admitted getting their own officers to drive people home.

Jonathan Isaby, Chief Executive of the Taxpayers' Alliance said that police should not be running a taxi service.

'Taxpayers will be left wondering why one earth they are paying for a cab ride home for those who have been nicked,' he said.
'Unless there is a clear danger to someone’s welfare or an obvious mistake in the arrest then there is no need for police forces to cough up for rides.

'Ultimately the police should be able to use their digression but taxpayers would rather see coppers tackling crime, not acting as a taxi service.'

A spokesman for Northamptonshire Police said they only use taxis as a 'last resort'.

'We are required to complete a risk assessment for everyone released from custody to ensure their safety,' he said.
'Occasionally, it is necessary to use a local taxi service for those who may be more vulnerable, such as young people, particularly if they are released late at night when alternative transport is not available. 

'This is a last resort when other options have been exhausted and, on many occasions, those released are taken to a nearby bus station rather than returning them home.'

Deputy Chief Constable Gareth Pritchard said: 'North Wales Police consider the welfare of individuals who leave our custody.

'As part of this process there are occasions when those being released are transported from St Asaph to other locations to facilitate their journey. As St Asaph custody is isolated from the main public transport routes, the expenditure of the force is higher than other forces.

'The force considers that in specific circumstances such expenditure is justified to ensure the person being released has a safe journey.
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said they currently have 126 hired vehicles.

'The Metropolitan Police Service hires vehicles to supplement its fleet when additional transport resources are required for increased short-term operational need,' he said.


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Edinburgh

A bank robber made his escape in a taxi, despite the fact that the black cab driver may have been completely unaware of what his passenger had just done.

The incident happened around 9.30am this morning at the Royal Bank of Scotland on St John’s Road.

The robber threatened staff, stuffed a four-figure sum of money into a plastic bag, and was then driven away by the unsuspecting cabbie.

A police insider said there “nothing to suggest” the taxi driver was involved in the raid in St John’s Road, Corstorphine.

The robber walked into the bank at about 9:30am. He put the money in an orange Tesco bag and ran back out and into the taxi.

A man who works at the Rumblin Tum cafe next door said they had “no idea” that anything had happened until the staff came in.

He said: “First thing we knew about it was when the staff from the bank came in whilst the police were here.

“All they were allowed to tell us was that there was an ‘incident. There was loads of police and then we heard from the news what had actually happened.”

A local woman, who wished to only be known as Margaret said: “They must have planned it quite well in advanced and would have known that black taxis regularly park on that stretch of the road.

“By that time the traffic has started to calm down a wee bit but theres still plenty of folk around So hopefully they can catch this man.”

She added: “It’s a wee bit scary. I’m not very stable on my feet and if he was to come back and try it again while I was at the cash point I would be very scared and wouldn’t put up a fight about it either. Poor person who had to go through that.”

The robber is described as white, in his late 20s to early 30s and is around 6ft 4in tall.

He was wearing a black beanie hat, a dark waist-length jacket and brown trousers.

DI Rory Hamilton said: “At no time was any weapon used or seen by staff or customers within the bank.

“However, the suspect was still able to make off with thousands of pounds and we are keen to hear from anyone who can help us in tracing this individual.

“Anyone who was on St Johns Road at around 9.30am on Monday morning and remembers seeing anything suspicious is asked to contact police immediately.”

He added that investigators believe the man came and departed in the same black cab and are in the process of speaking to the city’s taxi companies in a bid to trace it.
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Dublin

The online taxi-calling service, Hailo, has expanded its service to 20 new towns and cities across Ireland. The London-based company is also expected to expand its Dublin centre of operations with the firm's general manager, Tim Arnold, saying that it would soon begin hiring new head office staff.

However, Mr Arnold declined to confirm that Hailo would be moving its main administrative base to Ireland despite a new round of hiring due to commence shortly.

"We're not announcing anything like that at the moment," he said. "We have 11 people in our Irish office and we're about to grow that with new people in operations and account management. But it's too soon to talk about Ireland as an international headquarters. However, we are continuing to use Ireland as an innovation testbed and are trialling a new corporate taxi offering at the moment."

Sources close to the company have suggested that Hailo is considering Dublin as a new administrative European operations centre.

Hailo is a free taxi-booking smartphone app that shows where taxis are on an online map. It also allows users to pay by credit card. Described by Mr Arnold as a "pay as you go" model for taxi drivers, Hailo takes roughly 10pc of each fare booked through the system.

The company has had over 430,000 downloads of its app in the Irish market to date, of which more than 60pc have been on iOS devices such as iPhones and iPads.
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