THREE retired Gloucestershire police dog vans have been gifted to three charities for £1.

The specially-adapted vehicles no longer meet the force’s requirements and were handed over to Whitminster-based Teckels, Cheltenham Animal Shelter and incident response team Serve On by police and crime commissioner Martin Surl and Gloucestershire’s chief constable Suzette Davenport.

The vans have been used in thousands of incidents, with dog units often deployed to both help save lives and find people who have gone missing alongside incidents such as the Gloucester riots.

Police and crime commissioner Martin Surl, who brokered the deal, said: “The vans are changed regularly according to their age, mileage and reliability.

“And because they are not standard vehicles, it would be very difficult to sell them on the open market so it makes sense for them to go where they can still be put to good use”.

Clare Campbell, centre manager at Teckels Animal Sanctuaries, Whitminster, said: “This new vehicle will be used to help us transport our cats and dogs to their veterinary appointments, home visits and eventually their new homes.

“I'm sure the K9 members of the police team will be proud knowing that their specially adapted and safe animal transport vehicles will be going to help animals less fortunate than them.

“Some of our previous residents have gone on to be police dogs and it’s wonderful to continue this great relationship between Teckels and our local police force.”

Andy Harris, Dog handler from Serve On said: "These specially adapted vehicles will be invaluable to us in transporting our dogs wherever necessary; be it deploying to give assistance to Gloucestershire Police in locating missing vulnerable people.”

Two police dogs were also retired, Max and Stig, which is the usual procedure after eight years – 56 in human years – when they’ve given enough of their life to the service.

In a separate ceremony, a cheque for £514.80, which was raised at last year’s Open Day and Paws on Patrol events, was handed over to W.A.G.s, a non-profit trust which was set up to help retired police dogs from Wiltshire, Avon & Somerset and Gloucestershire.

Geoff Blindell, a Tri-Force dog-unit sergeant said: “On behalf of WAGs, I would like to thank the public for their generous donations.

“Our dogs work very hard and give their all during their years of service.

“The money raised through WAGs will help pay for vets bills and treatment they might need in their retirement, this one payment could pay for an x-ray.”

For more WAGs information go to http://wagsretiredpolicedogs.weebly.com/