400 Wolverhampton council vehicle accidents lead to £370k payout
There have been more than 400 accidents involving 200 Wolverhampton council owned vehicles over the past five years, new figures reveal.
The authority has been forced to fork out over £370,000 in compensation and repairs after accidents including crashes with other vehicles and damage caused to vehicles.
The figures, released under the Freedom of Information Act, cover the period between September 1, 2010, and September 30, 2015, and involve vehicles owned or leased by the council, or used by staff on company business.
The authority has spent a total of £373,472.39 on compensation, repairs and replacements for 222 vehicles during that period.
In 2010/11 there were 108 accidents, 100 in 2011/12 and 99 in 2012/13. The figures fell in 2013/14 to 75 and to 41 in 2014/15.
Payouts include damage to cars while parked, collisions with stationary objects, arson and crashes with other vehicles.
Vandalism, objects thrown at vehicles and accidental damage also accounted for some of the payouts.
The highest payout was in 2011/12 when £22,281 was paid after a vehicle reversed into a third party.
In that same year, £10,599 was paid out after a collision with another vehicle.
In 2010/11, £11,945 was paid out after a collision with another vehicle, while there was a bill of £20,771 when a vehicle reversed into a third party.
And in 2013/14, there was a cost of £8,000 after a vehicle was stolen.
At the lower end of the scale, the council had a £17.50 bill after a collision with another vehicle in 2013/14, and in 2014/15 there were two bills of £85 – one for damage to a vehicle while it was parked, and the other for damage caused after an object was thrown at the vehicle.
Councillor Peter Bilson, deputy leader of Wolverhampton council, said: "Clearly we do all we can to keep costs such as these to an absolute minimum, but where accidents do occur, or vehicles are stolen or damaged through vandalism, there is inevitably a cost involved.
"It is pleasing to see that the number of incidents has more than halved over the past five years and we will continue to work hard to reduce this still further."
