SCOTS police officers are driving around in clapped-out old bangers, one of which could have come straight out of Ashes to Ashes, the 1980s-set hit police TV drama series.
Police Scotland bosses admitted that the oldest patrol car in use had been bought in 1989 – leading to one MSP joking that the car may be an Audi as used in by the lead character, Gene "Fire up the Quattro!" Hunt, played by Philip Glenister in the show.
The state of the force's vehicle fleet was revealed in documents published under freedom of information laws.
They show that a third of Police Scotland's cars are more than five years old. There are also 95 vehicles that have been in use for at least a decade.
The revelations came just over a year after reports that the service was using patrol cars some of which were held together with duct tape and cable ties.
Police Scotland is also facing a maintenance bill of £263 million for its buildings over the next decade.
Lib Dem MSP Liam McArthur said the latest findings about vehicle use could impact on crime detection.
He blamed the state of the vehicle fleet on the Scottish Government.
He said: "We've seen reports of cars held together by duct tape and cable ties and now this new data
sheds more light on the state of the Police Scotland fleet. People will be surprised to learn that the police still own a vehicle from 1989. Maybe it is an Audi Quattro!
"Earlier this year Scottish Liberal Democrats revealed that it will cost Police Scotland more than a quarter of a billion pounds to maintain the crumbling police estate over the next ten years.
"However, it is not just buildings that are under strain. Officers and staff do a fantastic job keeping our communities safe in often tough circumstances but the SNP’s botched centralisation continues to undermine their efforts as projected savings have not been realised.
"It is the SNP Government's responsibility to ensure that they can afford the kit they need."
The LibDems obtained the figures about antiquated vehicles from a freedom of information request to Police Scotland.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman responded that the replacement of squad cars was a matter for police management.
She said: “Clearly Police Scotland is best placed to determine how and when they replace police cars to support their vital work pursuing offenders and keeping crime down and communities safe.
“As well as protecting the annual core policing budget of over £1.1bn – delivering a boost of £100m by 2021 – and a continuation of police reform funding, we are also increasing the amount available for capital expenditure by 15 per cent to £23m in 2018-19.
“We have ensured that, from April 2018, Scotland’s unified national police service will fully benefit from being able to reclaim VAT of around £25m a year, previously paid to the UK Government on the purchase of goods and services, including police vehicles.”
A Police Scotland spokesperson said the service was "investing heavily" in modernising its fleet of 3,500 vehicles.
The spokesperson pointed out that force had inherited a large number of vehicles when the single national service was created in 2013 after the merger of eight regional ones.
A spokesman for the Scottish Police Authority added: "We want to support our police service to be more responsive and mobile to meet the ever changing needs of our communities.
"That will need a programme of investment in both vehicles and technology.
"SPA has already had oversight of high level plans for investment and change over the next three years and we will be working together with Police Scotland to develop the detail of that further in early 2018?."
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