Residents furious as ‘stretched’ police filmed riding on dodgems at fairground despite being on duty

COPS who claim their skint force is overstretched found time to ride dodgems on duty.

The army of police sparked uproar yesterday after enjoying fairground thrills on duty instead of watching for crime.

Eighteen who were meant to be patrolling a funfair were filmed in bumper cars as three more looked on.

The antics came after under-fire Humberside Police, which moans it has too few officers, sent legions of them to patrol Hull Fair.

Forty were there on each of the eight days it lasted. They made a total of four arrests for minor drunkenness.

Those who took to the dodgems on the last day included £80,000-a-year Chief Superintendent Darren Downs. He later posted online about the “fantastic afternoon at the fair”.

Twitter users who reacted with outrage included one who replied: “Please don’t ever complain again of shortage of police.”

More than 30 terrified fair-goers had been left dangling for 7½ hours the day before when the Power Tower ride broke down.

Laura Blackett, 20, who was one of them, said: “It took hours before any police turned up.

“I thought if they weren’t there they were off doing other important things — not riding dodgems.”

Local resident Peter Sykes, 64, stormed: “Playing on dodgems is something they should do off duty.”

Hull resident Amy Williams, 22, branded the online footage of the cops a “joke”.

Fellow local Peter Sykes, 64, said: “They obviously had time on their hands.”

Mugging victim Mike Cowell, 36, said: “They should be out catching crooks. That’s what they are paid for.”

Earlier this year a report found the force takes an average 47 minutes to respond to an emergency.

Deputy Chief Constable Andy McDyer said of the dodgem riders: “Officers policing the event took a five-minute break to have some fun.”