Police caused more than £30,000 damage to their force cars last year by knocking them while reversing - mainly in their own car parks.

Figures for the last three years reveal Essex Police has spent almost £70,000 repairing vehicles in their fleet because of staff scrapes.

Most of the bumps were minor parking offences caused by clipping bollards, buildings or other cars while backing up in tight areas. However, the force admits a huge amount of the mishaps happened on police premises.

Top brass are now warning officers to be more careful in a bid to stop spiralling costs hitting the taxpayer.

A spokesman for the force said the number of bumps was small "considering we have a large fleet of vehicles which include delivery vans, police cars and unmarked police cars."

She added: "Many of our stations have very limited parking, so it is not surprising these incidents happen."