Road, Southampton, on Friday night.

The Police Constable behind the wheel suffered whiplash injuries and a chip to his spine after his vehicle crashed into a Mitsubishi Lancer while answering a 911 call.

A Police spokeswoman said: "The Police car was travelling south with its emergency light activated. The other car was travelling west but stopped on seeing the Police car approaching. A taxi, travelling ahead of the Police car, began to pull over to the nearside of the road as well.

The Police car then started to overtake the taxi when the officer was forced to take evasive action and the Police car skidded on the wet road surface, crossing the centre line and colliding with the front offside of the Lancer in the west bound lane.'' The smash, the seventh accident involving a Police vehicle in less than a month, has left Police bosses red faced.

Last week the catalogue of crashes prompted Acting Assistant Commissioner Alan Bissell to warn that Police drivers could face tougher tests in the future.

"We will be looking at all aspects of training to see what we can do about this and ensure that it doesn't happen again,'' he said.

Home Affairs and Public Safety Minister Quinton Edness and his shadow Alex Scott will discuss the issue at a meeting with senior officers later this week.

Mr. Scott told The Royal Gazette he felt confident that Police were dealing with the matter effectively.

"The Police are certainly aware of how this appears and are certainly prepared to take some action,'' he said.

"Police drivers have to pass a very stringent test before they become accredited. This may be just a very bad patch of bad luck. There might be one or two exceptions but for the most part I think these were just accidents rather than being caused through carelessness.

"But I know that the Police are prepared to take corrective measures if they prove to be helpful.''