Police vehicles in the United Kingdom

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A Panda car of the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary, England

Within the United Kingdom the type of police vehicle used depends on the job to be done, and the level of training received by the driver.

Incident response vehicles (IRV) are used on general community policing duties as well as responding to emergency '999' calls. These tend to be smaller vehicles such as a Ford Focus or Vauxhall Astra. These are usually fitted with engines with a size of around 1.6 to 1.8 litres. Although petrol-powered engines once dominated, diesel engines are now becoming more common due to their superior fuel economy and therefore lower operating costs.

Larger more powerful vehicles are used by Road Policing Unit and Armed Response Vehicle as they carry out tasks such as pursuing stolen cars, responding to emergencies in a larger area and carrying a larger amount equipment than an IRV. It is for that reason that many of the vehicles are in estate (station wagon) form. These vehicles tend to be Volvo V70 T5's with a 2.4 litre turbocharged petrol engine or Vauxhall Vectras with 3.2 litre V6. As with IRVs, diesel engines are becoming more common such as the BMW 5 Series 3.0 litre diesel which are heavily used by the Metropolitan police. As well as estate cars, 4x4 (SUVs) such as Range Rover, Land Rover Discovery (LR3), BMW X5 or Mercedes M class vehicles are used especially for Motorway patrols. Police Officers are required to undergo specialised training before being allowed to drive them.

Most UK police vehicles are white or silver (with silver becoming more common due to higher resale values after police use is finished) with retroreflective livery markings on the side. These markings usually take the form of a blue, yellow or red strip down the side of the vehicle, or use high visibility battenburg markings (with blue and yellow the accepted Home Office colours for police use). Some carry adverts for police initiatives or slogans such as the Metropolitan Police "Working for a safer London", also some vehicles show the force crest.

Unmarked police vehicles are used on road policing duties. One popular vehicle for this use is the Skoda Octavia VRS which is chosen due to its high performance but conservative styling. Some police forces have begun using Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions for the most dangerous or challenging car chases. The TVCU (Tactical Vehicle Crime Unit) within the Greater Manchester Police uses cars such as the Audi A3 3.2L Quattro, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, and Subaru Impreza WRX.^{[citation needed]} All the TVCU's vehicles are unmarked and have very high performance.

Police vans such as Ford's Transit or Mercedes Sprinter are also used and have a cage for accommodation of a prisoner in the back; unlike in the United States it is highly unusual to carry a prisoner or suspect in an ordinary police car as they don't feature a barrier between the front and back seats to protect the officers. After an arrest is made a van is requested to take the suspect away.

Equipment

Area cars (that respond to incidents) and Panda cars (that are mainly used for community policing) may carry: