Sussex Police spent nearly £1 million on car repairs after officers collided with other cars, animals and put the wrong fuel in their vehicles.

The force has forked out £870,913 since the start of 2012 after a number of costly incidents putting vehicles out of action.

The force’s fleet, including Fords, Audis and BMWs, was involved in 814 incidents at a cost of £375,476 in 2012.

The figure rose last year when 825 incidents cost police chiefs a further £410,438. An additional £85,000 has already been racked up this year.

Some of the dearest incidents included £11,000 repairs when a police vehicle went through a red light before hitting another car, £5,300 when officers rear-ended another vehicle and £16,000 when a police car crashed while overtaking another vehicle.

The force also paid more than £4,000 after numerous incidents where officers put the wrong type of fuel in their cars and more than £10,000 after collisions with animals.

Police vehicles were also targeted by vandals, with criminal damage costing over £8,000.

A force spokeswoman said: “The figures provided include all incidents where damage was caused to Sussex Police vehicles, including those where third parties were responsible.

“Sussex Police recovers its vehicle damage costs from negligent third party drivers where possible and there are still some outstanding recovery amounts for incidents occurring in 2013. Therefore the figures provided do not reflect the final position.

“All Sussex Police vehicle incidents are reviewed by a dedicated panel every month and where appropriate, action is taken in cases where the Sussex Police driver is responsible.

"Action taken can be management advice, additional training or in extreme cases, the restriction or revocation of driver permits. We have a contract with nearby police forces to reduce costs of repair as far as possible.”