THAMES Valley Police have agreed to pay thousands of pounds in legal costs to a motorist after his stolen car was so badly damaged at a secure storage compound that it had to be written off.

The force had already admitted liability and paid £12,000 for Jeremy Pascoe, of Cobham, Surrey, to replace his damaged Land Rover Discovery earlier in the year.

This week the force agreed an out-of-court settlement to cover his £5,587 legal costs.

Mr Pascoe’s car was stolen in 2005 and later found and impounded at a vehicle lot near Bicester as evidence.

However, the car was never used for a trial and when it was handed back to Mr Pascoe two years later, he found that a dog had been living on the back seat, parts had been removed and the vehicle was unusable.

A Thames Valley Police spokesman said: “It’s regrettable that damage was caused to Mr Pascoe’s vehicle while it was in the care of Thames Valley Police, and we apologise for this.

“We no longer use the site near Bicester and would like to reassure people every effort is made to ensure the sites we use to store vehicles are safe and secure.”