A MAN has been slated after posing on the bonnet of a police vehicle drinking a cardboard bottle of champagne.

The man in question, however, was in fact a PCSO in Banbury and the force promptly posted the picture on Twitter.

One unimpressed Oxford Mail reader emailed in to say: "In view of many of your recent stories detailing that state of our police force, I thought you may be interested in this photo... which is hypocritical when the force's chief constable recently claimed that the force was 'under-resourced' and they could not deal with certain crimes.

"This not only shows how pathetic and unprofessional their behaviour is but also how much time they must have to waste."

Labelling the tweet 'totally inappropriate and unacceptable', the person continued: "Not only this but if that was a member of the public climbing across police car they would be arrested… however, they seem to think its funny when they do it.

"Police cars are actually owned by the public and not by the police, so this is certainly no way to treat them.

"They obviously feel very proud of this behaviour."

After the Oxford Mail raised the concerns with Thames Valley Police, spokesman Gareth Ford-Lloyd, responded to say: "We are grateful for this being brought to our attention.

"The tweet has now been removed from our channels and we have given appropriate advice to the officers."