I READ with interest the article about Cambridgeshire needing extra cash to deal with the increase in our population (September 19). However, the following Sunday an article appeared in The Sunday Times about £500,000 that has been spent by Cambridgeshire

I READ with interest the article about Cambridgeshire needing extra cash to deal with the increase in our population (September 19). However, the following Sunday an article appeared in The Sunday Times about £500,000 that has been spent by Cambridgeshire police force on 21 Volvo XC70 estate cars.

These cars are used for holidays, shopping trips and other social and domestic pleasure purposes according to the article.

As the article in The Hunts Post states, nearly 35 per cent of Cambridgeshire's income comes directly from Council Tax payers. So, as a Council Tax payer, my response to Julie Spence is give back the cars, which are only perks for the Superintendents and Chief Superintendents, and you will have already recovered £1/2million of the required cash.

MARION McNICOLL

Barn Close

Hartford

Editor's note: Cambridgeshire police said this week: "These cars are operational and fitted with 'blues and twos'. They act as command centres for all on-call operations officers and senior investigating officers. They are also available for use by officers other than those to whom a car is allocated.

"The vehicles form part of the overall police fleet and will hold significant value when resold at the end of their tenure. The specification for each car is identical, and the choice of model was based on their suitability for work on and off-road in all conditions. Officers to whom the cars are allocated pay for any private mileage they cover, including their journey to and from work. They also pay income tax on the benefit of having the car.

"The scheme means that the force no longer has to pay essential-user allowance or essential-user mileage costs to the senior officers to whom the cars are allocated.