Cash-strapped police force uses volunteers to drive officers to and from jobs

The Devon and Cornwall police want to start their own version of the hospital car service to take them to non-urgent appointments.

The force has already caused a stir with plans for officers in country areas to hitch lifts with postmen, mobile library vans, or on buses.

Now they hope to reduce their budget on pool cars in Plymouth by bringing in 20 volunteer drivers to chauffeur uniformed policemen and women around Plymouth.

The drivers will be vetted to make sure they are safe and are not connected to crime and will be given extra training.

They will not be required to take prisoners or get involved in police pursuits and hands free phones will be installed in their cars.

The idea is to use them to take officers to routine appointments and meetings for which they currently use pool cars.

A Tory MP says he is amazed at the plan which is intended to make the most of police resources by reducing pressure on the pool cars.

Torridge and West Devon MP Geoffrey Cox said: "I would be amazed if this scheme works.

"If it can save money and genuinely make the force more efficient, then I support it, but I am very skeptical.

"In my view the real answer is more police officers on the beat and in front line duties."

A police spokeswoman said: "Officers currently take unmarked police pool cars to meetings in different parts of the city.

"The cars then sit outside, unused, for several hours. That is a waste of our resources.

"We want volunteers to help transport officers to these meetings. They will not be used to transport detained prisoners or anything like that."

The same force were criticised last year when they revealed their community support officers were covering outlying villages by hitching lifts on library vans.

The PCSOs were forced to cadge lifts with postmen the libraries because there were not enough police cars to go round at Wadebridge, North Cornwall.

Shopkeepers, MPs, and civic leaders all condemned the idea and demanded the officers should be given the facilities they need to do their job.

The problem was most acute at Wadebridge in North Cornwall where six PCSOs share a single police car.

North Cornwall Liberal Democrat MP Dan Rogerson said: "This situation is totally unacceptable and I am looking at the problem urgently.

"PCSOs are doing a great job to make communities feel safer, especially in rural areas.

"If we are investing money in them it is vital they are able to reach the places they are needed.

"The current situation is completely unacceptable and I will be examining the situation to see how it can be overcome."

Jeweller Stuart Robertson, who is a member of the Wadebridge Chamber of Commerce, said: "I own a business and I live here so I am paying taxes twice already. The police cannot expect to come cap in hand and ask me to pay again.

"We have a good relationship with the police and the support officers but it is just diabolical to suggest we should pay for a Government department to have vehicles."

Kim Roscoe, chairman of the Bodmin Chamber of Commerce, said: " This could be the thin edge of the wedge. Are we going to be asked to pay for uniforms next.

"PCSOs are a great asset but it is a bizarre situation for them not to have transport."