Police may lose £24m rail travel perk

ELLEN WIDDUP

A SCHEME which gives police free travel worth £24 million a year is under review in a cost-cutting exercise.

The deal allows 31,000 Metropolitan Police officers to travel up to 50 miles from London on the railways without buying a ticket, even when off duty.

It was introduced in 1970 in response to a rise in crime and attacks on transport staff. A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police Authority said the cost to the taxpayer had risen from £12 million a year in 2003 to £24 million.

He said the deal was made possible by a £16 million contract with the Association of Train Operating Companies but the Met also had to meet an estimated £8 million tax bill.

"The MPA is reviewing the costs of this scheme along with the rest of the £3.5 billion expenditure to provide a value-for-money budget to Londoners," he added.

Peter Smyth, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said the perk helped in recruiting and retaining officers who lived outside London and cut crime, with each officer intervening to stop trouble three times per year on average.