Cost of Policing major events should be borne by organisers, not Londoners, says Police watchdog

The Metropolitan Police Authority said today that the bill for policing money-making events, including football matches, pop concerts and Olympic 2012 "warm-up" events other than community events should be met by the organisers, not London taxpayers. From 1 October 2005 - 30 September 2006 1,300 commercial events took place in the capital. The cost of policing these events is estimated at more than £9.2m, but the Metropolitan Police recovered only £3.9m. The most costly commercial events to police are football matches. During the same period there were 346 football matches played in London and the cost for policing them was £6.6m. The Met sought payment for 257 of these but because legally they can only charge for officers inside the grounds not outside, where most policing takes place, it was able to recoup only £2.1m.