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Northamptonshire Police deploy greener motorbikes in 'world first'

BBC Northamptonshire Police's press call for the introduction of its new three-wheeled petrol hybrid motorbikesBBC
Northamptonshire Police Chief Constable Nick Adderley (centre) was among those to welcome the new three-wheeler bikes to the force's operational fleet

Police officers across a county will be the "first in the world" to ride a new fleet of three-wheeler petrol-hybrid motorcycles, a force has said.

Northamptonshire Police has boosted its road units with eight of the vehicles in a bid to be more environmentally friendly.

It has developed the bike over the last three years alongside a local firm.

Chief Constable Nick Adderley said: "You will not see these machines anywhere else in the world."

The new model of bikes will help officers reach more communities, the force has said

"For the last three years - as the National Police Chiefs' Council lead for motorcycling - I've been working with a local company and we've been designing these motorcycles.

"It starts to attack that green agenda which all emergency services are battling with right now.

"We are the world's first in terms of getting this machine running; in terms of a police force that has this bike… the aerodynamics and the engineering that has gone into it has not been seen anywhere in the world."

Mr Adderley also said it suited the aims of neighbourhood policing by making officers visible and increasing easy access to different communities.

The new petrol-electric models, which partly run on detachable batteries that can be charged from normal plug points rather than special charging stations, will reduce carbon emissions by up to 50%, it said.

The force said another advantage was they can be driven on a standard car licence instead of motorcycle licence, meaning more officers will be able to use them.

Police officer on one of the new three-wheeler bikes
The new bikes can run off batteries that can be charged at normal plug sockets

Mr Adderley said he had been pleased to be able work with White Motorcycle Concepts, based in Northamptonshire, on designing the hollow-frame bikes to boost efficiency and ease of use.

He added the force now wanted its peers to follow its lead, with things already looking promising.

"We want to promote the use of these machines far and wide and we've had interest in these machines all over the world, but we're going to prove the concept here," he said.

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