Thames Valley Police have admitted they were to blame for an accident that left a family of seven without their car.

Oxford's crime and operations superintendent Keith Ringsell has instructed the force's insurance company to accept responsibility for the crash in London Road, Headington on June 4, which left Richard Holmes's car a write-off.

The Holmes family in the car donated by Eurodrive

The officer driving at the time has been taken off police driving duties pending the outcome of an investigation into the accident.

Mr Holmes, 39, was waiting to turn right when a police car overtaking from behind on a 999 call hit the front of his car.

Police admit the patrol car, which was responding to reports of a violent customer in a shop in Blackbird Leys, caused the collision because Mr Holmes's car was at a standstill.

An inquiry into the actions of both drivers has also been carried out by the police and a file passed to the Crown Prosecution Service. They will decide whether there are grounds for prosecution against either of the drivers.

Supt Ringsell said: "One issue was the standard of driving on the road and the other was the issue of damage to the vehicle.

"In this case I have accepted responsibility on behalf of Thames Valley Police and passed that information to our insurance company.

"In my view, Mr Holmes was not responsible for this accident and therefore should not be penalised.

"In circumstances which are clear where there is one car being driven and one car stationary in the road there can be little doubt of who collided with whom."

He said he was investigating the actions of the police driver, who had been on a call graded as 'immediate', or requiring urgent action.

The force has a target in its annual policing plan to get to 85 per cent of these calls within 15 minutes, but Supt Ringsell stressed "only when it is safe to do so".

Mr Holmes and his wife Louise were initially worried they would not be able to claim for the loss of their Austin Montego if the police did not claim responsibility, because they only had third party insurance.

Responding to the force's admission of responsibility, Mrs Holmes, 31, said: "This is great news. We just want this all to be behind us now and we are talking to our insurance company."

The Holmes had feared a holiday with their five children to Pontins near Weston-super-Mare next month would have to be cancelled, but Eurodrive in Oxford offered to lend the family a Renault Espace people carrier free of charge after reading about their plight in the Oxford Mail.