POLICE officers and civilian staff have been paid thousands of pounds for a range of claims including fingerprint dust causing asthma and injuries while feeding a police horse.

In the past four years, Essex Police faced liability claims of almost £1million from 48 officers or members of staff.

So far it has paid out £229,332, but more than half the claims are yet to be agreed.

The highest payout, of £104,970, was made to an employee suffering from depression and anxiety who then took voluntary redundancy.

More bizarre claims include a PCSO who tried to claim when another PCSO threw a roll of packing tape at their head. The force refused to pay.

Another employee who wanted £150,000 for an injury sustained while she was feeding police horses has so far been paid £2,004.

The majority of claims which were paid out by the force were for crashes, injuries during training or trips and falls.

A further payment of at least £100,000 has also been made to a former officer who was injured in the line of duty.

But in this case the officer was paid by the Essex Police and Crime Commissioner’s office after a dispute was settled out of court.

Nick Alston’s office has refused to release any further details about the injury or how it occurred claiming it would breach data protection.

Mr Alston said: “We will be raising the nature of the injury with Essex Police, through appropriate channels, and will be seeking evidence to ensure processes are in place to address matters of this nature at an early stage.

“I do not believe it would be appropriate to make any further medical details public.

“The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner has legal and data protection duties to avoid putting information into the public domain which could identify the individual who received the damages payment, so it would not be appropriate to release more specific detail.”

Essex Police declined to comment on the claims.