PARAMEDICS, police and council workers who put the wrong fuel in publically-funded vehicles have cost Oxfordshire taxpayers almost £10,000 in less than two years.

The Oxford Mail asked Thames Valley Police, all five of the county’s district councils, Oxfordshire County Council, and South Central Ambulance Service to reveal how many times drivers had mistakenly filled work vehicles with the wrong fuel between January 2009 and November 2010.

The county council, ambulance service and police all revealed mistakes had been made, but the district councils reported no errors.

Most organisations have fitted anti-misfuel devices to prevent the wrong fuel being pumped into vehicles. But the police said the devices were not be cost-effective.

The ambulance service said it could not supply details of misfuelling over the entire period, but said just one driver had misfuelled since last January, costing the taxpayer £6,600 to replace the engine.

South Central Ambulance Service spokesman James Keating-Wilkes said: “This type of incident is rare. We have internal management systems to discipline drivers.”

He said all the organisation’s 981 vehicles ran on diesel and frontline vehicles were fitted with the anti-misfuel devices.

Police officers in Oxfordshire reported nine incidents in the two-year slot when petrol was put into diesel cars, costing £1,032.

Spokesman Craig Evry said 114 of the force’s 1,200 vehicles were based in Oxfordshire, adding: “Of the nine incidents of petrol being put into diesel vehicles recorded in Oxfordshire over the past two years, a third of these involved hire cars and not force-owned vehicles.

“It would cost an estimated £100 per vehicle to install a protection device to prevent the wrong fuel being put in, which is not cost-effective when you compare this figure to the cost incurred through the small number of incidents each year, especially at a time when the police budget is being reduced.”

Staff at County Hall had not kept records of all the times incorrect fuel had been used, but spoke to key departments including the Fire and Rescue Service. Their investigations revealed 12 vehicles were misfuelled, costing £2,234.

John O’Connell, research director at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Mistakes do happen but it’s quite shocking that it’s being repeated and costing taxpayers so much.

“Staff and their managers need to start learning from their mistakes as well as taking greater preventative measures to ensure that taxpayers’ money is not wasted clearing up such elementary errors.”