POLICE cars which have crashed or been vandalised on patrol in Oxfordshire have cost almost £180,000 to repair in the past three years.

The figures come as police managers revealed they had seen a 20 per cent rise in the number of times vandals had attacked police vehicles in the past 10 years.

Since 2007, criminal damage has cost the force more than £22,500 in repairs, with 61 trips to the garage.

The largest most recent claim was in October 2008 when a patrol car was set on fire in Leopold Street, East Oxford, at a cost of £10,796.

Ian Godolphin, head of the Bicester-based Chiltern Transport Consortium, which is in charge of police vehicles, said: “We have seen a 20 per cent increase in people deliberately ramming our cars and criminal damage in the past 10 years. We have seen this in other counties too.

“I don’t really know why. In my view society has probably changed and we have some people in the younger generation who have lost respect for law and order.”

Most of the criminal damage is minor, where passers-by might bend a windscreen wiper blade or radio aerial.

The most costly problems are when a criminal deliberately rams a police car, or when a person under arrest kicks a police car door or window while officers are trying to detain them.

The force always gets money back for criminal damage if someone is prosecuted.

Mr Godolphin said: “The number of incidents where there’s blame on the police driver is the smallest element. Usually, it’s general damage or people who vandalise our cars.

“It includes people arrested who are put into the back of a police car. They might kick the window or the door.

“Other damage might be if a patrol car goes to a rural area to deal with harecoursers and they might dent the exhaust driving down a rural track.”

Officers in Oxfordshire have sent cars to mechanics and the repair shop 419 times since 2007, including 35 times in the first three months of last year.

Mr Godolphin added: “Although the numbers seem quite high, they do four million miles a year in Oxfordshire. There are 114 police vehicles in the county.

“The number of insurance claims per mile driven is better than the national average for company cars, so that puts the numbers into context.

“We’ve just had an independent insurance review and despite the growth in number of police vehicles and miles driven in the past 10 years, the number of police officers being involved in accidents is continuing to reduce to what they said was the best in the South East.”

The consortium records every nudge, prang and accident, and examines each incident to see if lessons can be learned.

All police officers undergo three weeks of intensive training before they can drive force vehicles.

In October 2007, police sent out five patrol cars, a helicopter and a dog to chase a yob who smashed a police car’s window in Didcot. A 21-year-old man was arrested over the incident.