Police are being told to catch the bus or take a bike after the number of cars available to them was cut as part of £15 million spending cuts.

Leicestershire police hopes to save at least £175,000 next year by cutting from 483 to 443 its fleet of cars, including marked patrol cars and ones used by CID officers.

Senior officers say the cuts to the £180 million police budget will not affect the force's ability to respond to emergencies but will reduce fuel and maintenance bills.

Beat bobbies and senior officers are being encouraged to turn to pedal power and public transport.

Only stations with the most cars will be affected – not ones with fewer vehicles.

Leicester's Welford Road police station is now operating with nine cars instead of 10.

Inspector Richard Toone, commander at the station, which is on a major bus route into the city centre, said: "The buses pick up or drop off just outside the station. The drivers and passengers seem to like seeing us.

"I need to go to a lot of meetings in the city centre and I'm finding it's very convenient to get there and back by bus.

"The neighbourhood teams are increasingly using bikes to get around their beats and some will travel there by bus and spend their time patrolling on foot."

Clarendon Park beat officer Pc Emma Jayne cycles around the neighbourhood.

She said: "Cars are a bit of a barrier – even if you're driving slowly through the neighbourhood, people are not going to flag you down.

"I've been cycling for ages. You can speak to more people.

"I say 'hello, how are you?' to everyone and we can get into a conversation."

Ken Brewis, chairman of the Eyres Monsell Tenants' Association, said: "We see the officers up here three or four times a day, often more.

"Some of them will come up here on the bikes, while the ones who are in cars park up and spend their time walking the beat.

"This is just what people want to see. They don't want their police officers going past in cars at 30mph."

Superintendent Chris Haward, one of the officers leading the cuts and efficiencies programme, said: "Leicestershire Constabulary is facing a period of extreme financial pressure, unprecedented in recent times.

"It is therefore vital that the force considers every opportunity to make cost-effective use of its resources and continues to deliver an effective service."

The force said earlier this year that up to 150 civilian posts could be lost as part of the budget cuts.

But it is thought the number of redundancies could climb further when the Government publishes more detailed long-term spending cuts in October.

Vehicle fleet cuts should help keep the number of redundancies to a minimum.

Mr Haward said emergency response times had improved to 91 per cent answered within 15 minutes.