HC Deb 13 July 1989 vol 156 cc643-4W
Mr. Hoyle

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have(a) died and (b) been injured in cellular police vans in each year since they were introduced.

Mr. Douglas Hogg

As the hon. Member is aware, there was one death in these circumstances on 19 June 1989.

Information about deaths of persons in police custody including the place and cause of death and the circumstances surrounding the death have been set out, since 1980, in the annual reports of the chief inspector of constabulary and the Metropolitan police commissioner. There do not appear to have been any previous deaths in cellular police vans. Information about injuries is not recorded centrally.

Cellular police vans were introduced by individual police forces at different times over a period of many years. They were first used by the Lancashire police in 1984.