Edinburgh detectives flee van after it catches fire on motorway

A SQUAD of Capital cops were forced to flee their smoke-filled police van after the battery burst into flames on a busy motorway.

The battery fire sent smoke spewing into the cabin

The team of detectives based at St Leonard’s were driving the marked custody van on an operation when they noticed a “foul smell.”

Just minutes later, the battery, housed underneath the front passenger seat, caught light and filled the cabin with steam and smoke.

A source said: “The officers managed to safely bring the vehicle to a stop at the side of a motorway and mechanics were called.

“When they attended, they said it was simply too dangerous for them to go near the battery which was bulging and warped from the fire. They were worried it was going to explode.

“They also said that it was extremely dangerous to have an acid battery in the cabin of the vehicle, especially as it was under a seat which had airbags.

The van was eventually recovered and a new battery fitted before the van was brought back to Edinburgh.

“There has been a suggestion that the battery on this particular van had already been replaced six months earlier after a similar incident took place,” added the source.

The van is understood to be around nine-years-old and was being used to carry out enquiries on an operation in Yorkshire on May 22 when the drama unfolded.

There were at least two officers in the van at the time and none were injured during the alarming incident, which has been described as a “near miss”.

The Scottish Police Federation quoted figures showing that force vehicles are breaking down at a rate of nearly one a day while out on patrol.

Last year, 349 cars experienced technical difficulties while in operation across the country - an increase of 100 on the previous year.

Andy Malcolm, chair of the east area committee for the Scottish Police Federation, said: “This incident shows the dangerous and unhealthy conditions that officers are working.

“It was only by sheer good luck that no one was seriously injured. How can officers have faith that the vehicles they’re travelling in are safe?

“It is frankly embarrassing that officers are being sent elsewhere in the UK only to have their marked Police Scotland vehicle break down at the side of the road.”

A Police Scotland spokeswoman said the forces has a fleet of more than 3,500 vehicles covering around 70 million miles each year, all of which are subject to regular maintenance.

She added: "On May 22, a police van travelling to Yorkshire developed a fault with its battery and required replacement.

"On being fixed, the vehicle was checked for further defects and the incident was recorded for health and safety purposes."