12 April 2012
Britain's biggest police force paid out more than £6 million in compensation for accidents last year.
The bill included £3.26 million for crashes involving Metropolitan Police vehicles and £2.76 million for other incidents such as slips and trips on police premises.
The scale of payments to officers, staff and members of the public is disclosed in a report due to be presented to the Metropolitan Police Authority this week.
There were 1,597 civil claims concerning the force's vehicles in 2006, and 1,982 non-motor.
At any one time the Met's Accident Claims Unit is dealing with around 2,500 ongoing cases, according to the report.
Many of the incidents on police premises are related to furniture defects, falling objects or faulty equipment.
