There have been almost 12,000 traffic crashes involving ‘blue light’ vehicles from the emergency services over the past five years.

Of these crashes, 1,926 resulted in seriously injured casualties and 188 in fatalities.

"The fact that emergency service vehicles are the cause of so many accidents and fatalities is extremely concerning,” said the Liberal Democrat Shadow Transport Secretary, Norman Baker, who unearthed the figures.

"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 Home Secretary and the President of the Association of Chief Police Officers calling for a review of the procedures used by emergency service vehicles to look into how accidents can be minimised."