GWENT Police’s fuel costs have risen more than a third over the past five years, according to new figures released by South Wales East AM Lindsay Whittle.

The figures obtained by Mr Whittle under the Freedom of Information Act show the force’s fuel bill has risen every year over the past five years from£782,760 in 2006/07, to £820,602 in 2007/08, £988,693 in 2008/09, £1,038,073 in 2009/10 and £1,183,032 in 2010/11, with its total expenditure over the past five financial years totalling £4,813,160.

Mr Whittle has raised concerns over the impact of fuel prices on the emergency services inWales.

He said: “The woes of motorists at the petrol pumps are well documented, but little has been said about how the rise in fuel prices is hitting the emergency services. In spite of measures being taken by all of the services to lessen their fuel consumption, the cost of keeping their fleets of vehicles running is swallowing up an increasing part of their budgets.”

A Gwent Police spokeswoman said the force is working with the Fleet Strategy Group to reduce fuel use and costs along with carbon emissions.

Measures being used include directing officers to use the cheapest available outlets to fill up, using video and audio conferencing instead of travelling to meetings and car sharing.

The force has also commissioned a green fleet review, introduced a cycle purchase scheme and has a project under way to trial hybrid vehicles for non-response uses.

Mr Whittle said: “I would like all emergency services now to share good practice with each other so that they can drive down their fuel consumption further.”

Ambulance and fire services look to reduce fuel costs

The Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust spent a total of £21,507,400 fuelling its appliances across Wales in the past five years.

A spokeman said measures were in place to try to alleviate the issue of rising fuel prices, including using video conferencing, controlling non-essential travel, procuring more economical vehicles and promoting awareness of the best fuel prices to crews.

He said: “Triage nurses based in all controls can also make a decision on other medical resources appropriate to their needs, negating the need for an ambulance and reducing fuel costs.”

South Wales Fire and Rescue spent a total of £2,260,653 between 2007/08 and 2010/11.

Rod Hammerton, assistant chief fire officer, said appliances were limited to 56mph, apart from when they are responding to emergencies, and the service purchases fuel through the Welsh purchasing consortium, saving 20p a litre.

He said: “We constantly strive to provide value for money so we balance the need to carry out activities such as home fire safety checks and enforcement under fire safety legislation against the need to control budgets.”