MORE than £2m was paid out by Yorkshire’s police forces to people involved in accidents with speeding police cars, new figures have revealed.

West Yorkshire Police was forced to make the largest total payout – £900,000 in the last three years.

The figures showed South Yorkshire Police’s compensation costs were £651,000.

Humberside Police paid £500,000 and North Yorkshire Police £230,000.

The compensation relates not only to drivers who were injured by collisions with patrol cars but also damage to their vehicles.

One victim, Angela Singh, was driving with her two young sons in Leeds when a police car hit them after going through a red traffic light.

Her eldest son Gorave needed 35 stitches and his brother suffered cuts and bruises. Mrs Singh sued the local force and won compensation.

A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police explained their drivers were specially trained and the force did not “turn a blind eye” when officers had broken the law.

Since 2002 there have also been 71 cases in West Yorkshire where police vehicles have been caught speeding but the officers driving could not be identified.

The police spokesman added that despite investigations it had been unable to trace the drivers of 13 police vehicles caught speeding last year.

In South Yorkshire there were 26 cases of police caught on speed cameras between 2003 and 2006.