POLICE officers could soon be buzzing around South Lakeland in electric cars in a bid to cut down on expensive fuel costs.

Cumbria police and crime commissioner Peter McCall has said electric vehicles are now being considered although he stressed they would not be suitable for all types of police work.

The constabulary chalked up £55,000 more on fuel over the last year after budgeting for a five per cent rise at the pump.

Mr McCall told a meeting of the Cumbria Police and Crime Panel: “Electric vehicles do not lend themselves especially well to a great deal of police work so we think they could be deployed as a kind of what we would have thought of as a Panda in days gone by – around town and city centres, and there wouldn’t be very many of them.

“We are the second largest county in the country and the geography does make it expensive in terms of fuel, so it is a significant cost. Unlike many metropolitan forces, fuel costs impact on us more, and it is one of those things we do have to manage as best we can, but fuel economy is definitely one of those things forces consider when they look at new vehicles.”

There was an eight per cent rise in fuel between December 2017 and July last year, according to a report before the panel.

Finance bosses said the constabulary had seen an increase in both fuel costs and fleet mileage.

In 2018-19, the Constabulary budgeted for a £2.1 million spend on transport-related expenditure which included fuel, repairs and maintenance, among others.

In 2011, Lothian and Borders Police in Scotland replaced a standard police patrol car at the Scottish Parliament with an eco-friendly Mitsubishi I-Miev to reduce carbon emissions.

In 2018, London’s Metropolitan Police rolled out a Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel cell car and announced plans to procure 550 zero or ultra-low emission vehicles by 2020.