The compulsory fitness test, introduced in 2014 requires officers to perform a shuttle run of 525 metres in three minutes 40 seconds or less

Police failed more than 1,800 basic fitness tests in the space of 12 months – with more women than men proving to be too out of shape to protect the public.

Results released by the College of Policing show that the test was passed 92,093 times between September 2014 and August 2015 – a 98 per cent success rate.

According to the college, 95.4 per cent of the assessments taken by women were passed, compared with 98.9 per cent taken by men.

Two of the 43 forces in England and Wales were unable to provide a breakdown of results by gender, but figures from the rest showed that 757 tests were failed by men (1.1 per cent of the total), and 1,059 by women (4.6