POLICE cars have crashed 66 times in North and East Yorkshire since 2010, new figures have revealed.

A Freedom of Information request submitted to North Yorkshire Police found 49 marked and unmarked vehicles were involved in a collision on the county's roads.

The figures show 2012 was the worst year for accidents with 11 incidents, however, the number of crashes has remained consistent since then with seven collisions in each of the last three years.

However, last year's total had almost been reached in the first two months of 2016 when two crashes took place in January and four in February - an average of one a week.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire Police said: "A supervisor is assigned to deal with any collisions involving a police vehicle. The supervisor, who is usually from the roads policing department, then carries out a full investigation into the incident.

"Collisions are only referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) if they result in deaths or serious injuries, which is standard procedure across all forces."

Humberside Police said 17 of their cars were involved in crashes between February 2010 and August 2015.

Another crash took place on March 8 this year and involved a shunt where three police officers were injured.

The crash involved two Humberside Police cars as they collided in York Road, Shiptonthorpe.

No members of the public were involved but the three officers involved suffered muscular injuries and walked away from the incident.

A spokeswoman for Humberside Police added: "Investigations into collisions involving police vehicles are managed in the same way as any road traffic collision with all the circumstances considered.

"Some of these collisions are single vehicle i.e. the police vehicle has collided with roadside furniture.

"Collisions are not routinely referred to the IPCC, referrals are made depending on the level of injury of any member of public involved or if there is any suggestion of inappropriate driving by the police officer."