West Midlands Police pay out £1.3m for breakdown tip-offs

Up to £1.3 million was made by West Midlands Police in the last two years by tipping off recovery companies about broken down cars, it was revealed today.

The force called contractors to tow away more than 50,000 vehicles in 2008 and 2009. It often receives a referral fee of £25, meaning the force was paid up to a total of £1,346,075.

Recovery firms pay a 'management fee' in return for notification of vehicles that need to be picked up from the scenes of accidents or breakdowns.

West Midlands Police today insisted the charge was not applied in every case — but refused to confirm how many payments were made or how much money the referrals had generated.

The number of cars the force referred to contractors dropped by 14 per cent in 2009, from 28,952 to 24,891.