A CONTRACT designed to save Lancashire Police hundreds of thousands of pounds on interpreters has been ripped up.

The force only struck a joint deal, alongside three other North West constabularies, with interpreter agency Applied Language Solutions (ALS) in August last year.

In a five-month period up until January 1, 2011, it had cost Lancashire £68,000 bringing in interpreters to translate during interviews with witnesses, suspects and victims with limited English.

In the three years previously it cost £1.2m – including £444,000 during 2009/10 – according to details obtained via a Freedom of Information request.

However, interpreters belonging to the Professional Interpreters Alliance (PIA) refused to work for ALS and launched a judicial review of the contract.

A spokesman for Lancashire Police said the deal had been axed over concerns whether the contract was promoting good relations with different ethnic groups under the Race Relations Act.

They said: “This judicial review resulted in the quashing of the service level agreements following negotiations with PIA’s solicitors based on the acceptance that equality impact assessments should have been undertaken and documented.

"Lancashire Constabulary, Merseyside Police, Greater Manchester Police and Cumbria Constabulary are currently in consultation with the PIA about how forces will move forward and how they will deliver interpretation services in the future.”

A spokesman for ALS said the contact had saved taxpayers money and managing director Gavin Wheeldon said the decision to axe it was unfair.

He said: “I think it’s just a failure in the process.”

Between August and December 2010, Eastern division spent £20,600, the majority on Punjabi, Urdu and Polish.

Pennine spent £15,700 including Bengali, Punjabi, Urdu, Polish and Lithuanian.