Information uncovered by the Liberal Democrats shows that traffic accidents involving ‘blue light’ vehicles from the emergency services have caused 5,431 accidents in Scotland over the past five years.

Of these accidents, which exclude the fire service, 55 resulted in seriously injured casualties and nine caused fatalities.

Liberal Democrat Shadow Justice Secretary Margaret Smith said:

“The fact that emergency service vehicles are the cause of so many accidents and fatalities is extremely concerning.

“While these vehicles are rightly in a hurry to get to where they are needed, these figures indicate that we need a serious look at what can be done to reduce the number of accidents that they are involved in.

“I have written to both the Justice Secretary and the President of the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland calling for a review of the procedures used by emergency service vehicles to look into how accidents can be minimised.”