POLICE drivers desperately need new legislation to protect them, the chairman of Thames Valley Police Federation said.

The Government says it will draft new legislation by the end of the year, but PC Craig O'Leary said the new protection could not come quickly enough so officers will no longer end up in court 'simply for doing their job'.

He said: “Where driving standards do fall below what we would expect of a trained police driver, then that’s one thing. We see someone, for example, pursuing mopeds and if there’s a collision and that moped driver falls off the bike on a stolen moped. Before you know it the police officer’s in court for dangerous driving. How can that be right? We desperately need some proper legislation."