London Football Clubs Paid 5% Of £7M Cost For Policing Matches, Figures Reveal

London's football clubs paid "just" 5% of the £7M cost of policing matches last year, new figures revealed, according to Justin Davenport of the London EVENING STANDARD. Scotland Yard recovered £361,000 of the total cost, leaving it with a bill of nearly £6.7M. West Ham was the "most expensive club to police," with the Met spending more than £1M on its matches at the new London Stadium venue. West Ham paid £33,000, or 3%, of the total cost. However, the "most costly match to police did not involve a London club." The English Football League Cup final in February between ManU and Southampton cost the Met more than £150,000, but it was "only able to recover a quarter of this." Following West Ham, the most expensive clubs to police were Chelsea and Tottenham. Chelsea cost £726,682 and paid the Met £156,375 toward the cost. Tottenham cost £652,974 and paid £55,797. Labour London Assembly member Andrew Dismore, who obtained the figures, said, "This is just getting ridiculous -- enough is enough" (EVENING STANDARD, 7/31).