UK - Rail police accused of stealing Vimto

[John Ashworth]

Police accused of stealing Vimto

Last Modified: 02 Mar 2009
Source: ITN


Detectives are reported to have spent £200,000 investigating their own officers for "stealing" five bottles of Vimto.

Two British Transport Police officers were alleged to have shared the soft drink cordial with colleagues after finding it in a cardboard box beside a railway line.

The bottles were spotted in a mess room cupboard and the constables were suspended on full pay for 18 months.

The case at Stockport, Manchester, was dropped but they were each fined four days wages for breaking police regulations.

The episode is being criticised by the Taxpayers Alliance as a "shocking waste of taxpayers money".

The British Transport Police Federation said the officers and their families had been put under great stress over a "trivial" matter.