Compensation claim news
02/01/2008

Revelation reveals NI car crash compensation cost

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) have admitted that over the past five years £3.5 million has been paid out to members of the public who have made compensation claims following road accidents involving police.

The PSNI revealed that compensation claims were most commonly made by civilians who sought to be compensated for personal injury, damage to property or both.

A spokesperson from the service commented, "We don't want people getting hurt and we don't want to pay these large bills, it impacts on the policing budget, we are going into this comprehensive spending review and the public purse is being drained."

While not all accidents involving police result in compensation claims, the disclosure, made following a Freedom of Information Act request, revealed that there have been 7,816 accidents involving police in the five-year period. A total 1,688 of these accidents happened while police were responding to emergency situations.