DELAYS by bureaucrats may cost a dedicated Marlow policeman more than double his yearly wage after the price of his police house rocketed by £50,000.

The revelation came as a letter from Detective Constable Trevor Fulton was read in front of Chief Constable Charles Pollard at a Police Federation meeting on Monday night in Oxford as officers discussed morale.

DC Fulton said he is tempted to take his skills and more than 20 years of experience to the Metropolitan Police after a two-year delay in buying his house meant the asking price went up from £125,000 to £175,000.

He had been waiting for two years to buy the family house after paper-pushers at Thames Valley Police Authority, responsible for the sale of housing, told him to hang on until a policy change which would mean he would be eligible for a substantial discount.

But he was then informed that he would not get the £15,000 to £20,000 discount he expected and instead would have to cough up an extra £50,000 to buy his house because it had gone up in value.

Although they offered him a sympathetic £5,000 discount, he says he cannot afford to pay the price and he is worried about the future of his family.

This comes at a time when police have already back-tracked on a decision to sell-off police housing because of falling numbers of officers applying for jobs in the area due to high house prices.

Martin Elliot, chairman of the Thames Valley Police Joint Branch Board, representing officers, said: "I thought that Thames Valley Police was supposed to be a caring organisation with integrity but it seems that this time DC Fulton has ended up being beaten by the system and gazumped."

However, Penny Elvin, deputy chairman of Thames Valley Police Authority, spoke at the meeting to say she would be pursuing the matter and contacting DC Fulton.

She added: "Firstly, I am very sympathetic and we are aware of the difficulties officers and first time house owners have in purchasing houses and we are looking at options which will make that much more feasible."