Amid rising fuel prices, policemen are being instructed to look carefully at the path they take while keeping an eye on the streets.

The hope is that officers can cut down on the amount of fuel they use by choosing the most efficient route as they patrol crime hot spots and head to locations.

But there are concerns it means officers won't patrol as much of their patch.

The move comes after police have admitted they can't afford to fill vacancies because of lack of money.

One of the reasons is that more and more cash is going on fuel bills.

The plan came to light during a meeting of the performance committee of Hampshire Police Authority, the organisation holding police purse-strings.

Chief Superintendent John Campbell, head of operations, said this was not about reducing patrols – but officers would need to consider more efficient routes.

He said: 'It's making sure we are running as efficiently as we can.'

But Geoff Crowe, chairman of Hampshire Police Federation, which represents officers, said he was concerned that police could miss parts of their patch if they were being too fuel aware.

He said patrols were already targeted to cover key hot spots and not officers 'randomly driving about'.

He added: 'The concern is that patrol teams work out of one or two stations, which means that to cover the whole of their patch they've to cover a lot of ground.

'If the officers are being asked to reduce the amount of petrol they use and the amount of miles they do, that will impact on the amount of cover that's being given.'

As previously reported in The News, Assistant Chief Constable David Pryde revealed that Hampshire Constabulary has 80 vacancies for frontline officers which it cannot afford to fill.

Asked about the reasons for the vacancies, Mr Pryde cited increased petrol prices among them.