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Gwent Police
Gwent Police said it spent £34,300 on the tuk-tuks and sold them for about £6,000 two years later
A police force which spent £34,300 buying electric tuk-tuks to help fight crime sold them after just two years - at a £28,350 loss.
But in June 2024 they went out of service and later that year were sold for £5,950 in total, a Freedom of Information request has found.
A Gwent Police spokesperson said while the sale price was lower than anticipated, the amount of money they tried to recoup was outside the force's control.
In 2022, Gwent Police said it spent £39,744 in total on the four vehicles, or £9,936 per tuk-tuk in response to a BBC Wales Freedom of Information request.
The vehicles were paid for from a £673,181 Home Office Safer Streets fund package aimed at tackling specific safety and crime prevention issues, and to provide a visible presence in public areas.
The auto-rickshaws generally have a top speed of about 34mph (55km/h), and are well-known for being used as taxis and as a mode of transport in Asian countries in particular.
Speaking at the time, Ch Insp Damian Sowrey said parents told officers "they would feel safer knowing that there was support for young people out at night, and from women who could think of an occasion when the tuk-tuk would have been a welcome sight".
A Gwent Police spokesperson said: "The intention behind the purchase of these vehicles was to boost public safety especially within the night-time economy settings of Abergavenny and Newport in an engaging and different way for our communities.
"While the eventual sale price was lower than anticipated, it was outside of our control as to how much money could be recouped from the sale of these vehicles which many people who have attempted to sell a vehicle which is no longer required will recognise."
As part of the Home Office's Safer Streets 2021 programme, the force also spent £638,881 of the funding on tackling violence against women and girls, as well as other offences such as anti-social behaviour and burglary, theft and robbery.
The money made from the sale of the vehicles was reinvested in Safer Streets scheme projects, agreed by the Home Office.
A Gwent Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) spokesperson said Police and Crime Commissioners were not responsible for operational policing, adding that the decision to sell the tuk-tuks was taken by the force before the Gwent PCC's election in May 2024.
