3,000 foreign-made vehicles bought for British police

8 years ago

£34 Million is to be handed to foreign vehicle manufacturers in a new police procurement deal. When Britain is the 4th largest automotive manufacturer in the world, producing 1.6million cars and commercial vehicles every year, is this a new level of crazy?

The 3,000 new vehicles are being supplied to around half of the forces across the UK over the next 2 years and are confirmed the be the following models:

Peugeot 308 – made in Mulhouse and Sochaux, France

Vauxhall Astra 1.6 diesel – made in Ellesmere Port, UK

Peugeot 208 – made in Poissy and Mulhouse, France

Vauxhall Vivaro – made in Luton, UK

BMW 3 series – made in Munich, Germany

BMW 5 series – made in Dingolfing, Germany

BMW X5 – made in Spartanburg, USA

Ford Kuga 4X4 – made in Valencia, Spain

The only ones to be made in the UK are the Astra 1.6 diesel and the Vivaro van, both made by Vauxhall and worth only a small fraction of the total sums involved.

The 22 forces involved in the deal include the British Transport Police, Cleveland, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Police Scotland, South Wales, Surrey, Sussex and West Yorkshire.

British made vehicles were the mainstay of policing in the UK right up until the mid 1960’s when Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary controversially put an order for Volvo estate cars from Sweden. Today, you would be extremely lucky to spot a bobby on the beat in a British jam sandwich.

The issue here is quite clearly that the European Union procurement rules which force all public sector buying to go out to tender and then the cheapest deal must me chosen. This might be ok if the rest of Europe were also playing by the rules – go to Germany and find a police car that is not an Audi, a Mercedes, or a Volkswagen or to go to France and find a police car that is not a Peugeot, a Citreon or a Renault. It will never happen. Other countries can opt out from EU procurement rules to support their local manufacturers, Britain chooses not to.

The Met will be next

News has also just been release that the UK’s largest police force, the Metropolitan Police, are just about to run their own procurement process to replace thousands of police vehicles in and around London. Will they buy British?

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