NORTH YORKSHIRE'S most senior police officer spent nearly £10,000 in nine months.

This included travelling to conferences, hosting dinners, and visiting a factory in Austria.

The costs are broadly consistent with those incurred by other Chief Constables across the country.

New figures obtained by the Evening Press show for the first time the expenses claimed by North Yorkshire's Chief Constable, Della Cannings, and her deputy Roger Baker.

The figures, released under the Freedom Of Information Act, show that between March and December 2004, Ms Cannings claimed £6,226 in travel expenses and just under £3,500 in hospitality costs.

In the same period, the Deputy Chief Constable, Mr Baker, claimed £2,159 for travel.

The Chief Constable's travel expenses included a two-day trip to Vienna in June 2004, which cost £590.93, including a £398 flight. Ms Cannings visited a factory in the Austrian capital in her capacity as chairwoman of the Association of Chief Police Officers' (ACPO) Airwave committee, which deals with communication systems.

During the nine months, Ms Cannings also made 15 trips to London, two to Scotland, one to South Wales and one to Manchester for a variety of events, meetings, conferences and seminars, including many ACPO events. Police authorities cannot claim those costs back from ACPO.

In the same period, Ms Cannings' hospitality expenses totalled £3,490, including catering for police courses as well as a range of dinners.

At one event in April 2004 in Yarm, attended by two members of Her Majesty's Inspectorate (HMI) and two representatives of North Yorkshire Police, the bill came to £374.22 - equivalent to £93.55 per person.

During three other HMI visits in March, June and July 2004, the hospitality bills averaged £68.38, £49.27 and £45.85 per person respectively.

Other expenses incurred by the Chief Constable included hiring rooms to change outfits between functions.

In March 2004, she spent £44.79 to get changed for a civic dinner in York, and in June she paid a further £44.04 to change ahead of an engagement in Scarborough.

Mr Baker had no hospitality expenses, but incurred costs of £2,159.58 travelling to meetings, conferences and a dinner.

Of the eight trips for which he claimed back costs, seven were to London, with one to Birmingham.

The Evening Press asked Ms Cannings to comment, but she declined to do so.

Updated: 11:48 Saturday, July 02, 2005