Britain's police force has been criticised for frittering away public money - all because of accidents with police vehicles.

And the majority of these accidents don't happen on the beat, as you might expect, but right in police-station parking lots.

The Daily Telegraph reported that figures released by 31 forces across the country show that police have caused more than £2.3 million worth of damage to their police cars in the past three years. Just while reversing. Most were minor parking accidents as officers backed into bollards, parked badly or bumped into buildings.

What's raising hackles though is that the repair costs are paid from taxes.

Insurance premiums and excesses are so high that the forces do not claim for the damages.

The money could well be spent on putting more cops on the streets, say critics.

Conservative MP Geoffrey Cox said: "The forces obviously need to lay out their car parks better and make sure all their vehicles have parking sensors because £2.3m would pay for a lot of policemen on the beat."

The bill of £2,348,757 could have paid for 100 newly-qualified police constables, who earn £23,454 a year.

But this figure could be higher as the Metropolitan Police Service - Britain's biggest force with 23,600 vehicles - is not included.

Hertfordshire Police said the "vast majority" of its incidents "happened at slow speed, when officers were trying to park a car or carry out a three-point turn. Many happened on police station premises, not on public roads".

Mr Corin Taylor, a spokesman for the Taxpayers' Alliance, said the figures were "yet another example of public organisations frittering away" public money.

"If police officers are constantly having minor car accidents, they shouldn't be so hard on ordinary motorists," he said.

"If they spent less time in cars and on the beat, they wouldn't be having these accidents in the first place."

Liberal Democrat MP Colin Breed said the figures were "embarrassing".

He added: "I'm amazed that officers who have undertaken special training have racked up so much costly damage.

The accidents left 105 officers injured - most suffered shock and whiplash.