Cheshire Police have pledged to make changes to the way its records details of road accidents, following an exposé by the Warrington Guardian.

Reporter Stephen Bailey used the Freedom of Information act to secure a copy of a confidential report that was highly critical of the force's Omega computer system, which is used to record accident data.

The Warrington Borough Council report revealed how road safety engineers said the data the system was giving them, which they use to decide which roads need special safety measures, was coming through late and inaccurate.

Following a front page exposé in January, which "astonished" police authority members who read it, borough councillors formed a working party to investigate the problem.

And now chief constable Peter Fahy has "guaranteed" the working party members that they are changing the computer system to one that is used by the council's road safety officers.

Editor Nicola Priest said: "This is a great result for us.

"Thanks to the Warrington Guardian the police have, quite rightly, been forced to change their computer system.

"This story shows how important it is to use the FOI responsibily."