War dead get their police escort back ... thanks to The Mail on Sunday

Just 24 hours after last week's front-page report, which told how Thames Valley Police was refusing to provide outriders, the force's Chief Constable Sara Thornton apologised to the public "for any distress caused".

And on Friday hearses carrying the bodies of two RAF personnel were seamlessly escorted through Oxford traffic by Thames Valley Police patrol cars.

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The cortege was carrying Senior Aircraftmen Graham Livingstone, 23, and Gary Thompson, 51, the 92nd and 93rd British military victims of the Afghanistan conflict. Their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb last Sunday.

The Mail on Sunday's website was deluged with comments from across Britain and around the world last week after our report and photo spread.

Wiltshire Police has routinely escorted the repatriated bodies of Service personnel from RAF Lyneham on the first section of the 50-mile journey to Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital, where post-mortem examinations are conducted.

But we told how outriders peeled away from the hearses at the Oxfordshire border because Thames Valley Police declined to take over the escort.

Labour MP Quentin Davies, who is leading a Ministry of Defence study into strengthening public support for Britain's Armed Forces, labelled the failure to provide an escort for our war dead "despicable".

He added: "It is very much to the credit of Wiltshire Police that they are stopping the traffic and giving dignity and respect to those who have given their lives to this country. I think it is disgusting that the police in Oxfordshire do not do the same."

The Mail on Sunday highlighted the huge contrast between the way the bodies of repatriated soldiers were treated by the public and emergency services in Britain and the way it is done in Canada.

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There the hearses get a full police escort for the 107-mile journey from the Trenton air base in Ontario to central Toronto.

Along the route, police stop their patrol cars and get out to salute, fire and ambulance crews stand by their vehicles to pay tribute and thousands of flag-waving Canadians cram bridges over a motorway that has been renamed the Highway of Heroes.

One picture in our report showed a civilian man standing on the central reservation and holding his hand to his heart.

In Britain the dead are initially treated with dignity and locals gather to pay their respects at the war memorial in Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire, as the cortege passes by.

But once into Oxfordshire, without an escort, the hearses are ignored and cut up in traffic by impatient motorists. Inspector Mark Levitt of Wiltshire Police was told by Thames Valley that it was "not in their force policy to provide an escort for this type of thing".

The Thames Valley force initially claimed it did not provide escorts because it preferred to "focus on community safety rather than ceremonial roles".

But on Monday Chief Constable Thornton blamed the lack of an escort on the withdrawal of some of the force's motorcycles from the road after the deaths of two officers elsewhere in Britain.

A number of forces withdrew the Honda ST1300 as it was susceptible to shaking violently in a phenomenon known as high-speed weave.

Chief Constable Thornton said her force had previously escorted military hearses when bodies were flown to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, but the switch to Lyneham a year ago coincided with the motorcycle withdrawal.

She added: "We are, however, about to take delivery of a new fleet of motorcycles and they will be operational from the second week of June. Thames Valley Police will then recommence the escort to facilitate movement through traffic."

However, to avoid further criticism, the force decided against waiting until June and on Friday provided three estate cars for escort duties.