An influx of Polish immigrants has been blamed for the spiralling cost of translation services in Oxfordshire.

Interpreters provided by Thames Valley Police accounted for almost half the total spent by public bodies on translations in 2006-7.

Police in Oxfordshire spent £228,176.86, in a bill totalling £504,486.83.

Across the Thames Valley force as a whole, more than £1m was spent in 2006-7 - up from £75,962 in 1997-98.

Other nationalities, including Portuguese, Chinese, Slovaks and Kurds, needed help from organisations like district councils and the health service.

But some of the estimated 11,000 Poles living in the county accounted for the lion's share of the cost.

Ashok Kumar, who heads Oxfordshire County Council's language service, estimated that 70 per cent of his work was now dealing with translation requests purely from Poles.

He said: "The demand is changing, because so many Polish people are coming to Oxford. We do get other requests, but it is by far and away the most popular."

Set up in 1992, the round-the-clock service provides free translations for all council literature, and charges between £22 and £33 per 100 words for private work.

The Oxford Mail used the Freedom of Information Act to find out how much public authorities spent on translation services.

Oxfordshire NHS Primary Care Trust spent £173,582.40 - overspending its interpretation and translation budget by £25,000.

Oxford translator Dr Karen Leeder said: "Part of living in a different culture is learning the language but there are valid reasons why sometimes that might not be possible."

Last year, Oxford Lord Mayor John Tanner hosted a Town Hall reception, attended by 200 people, in recognition of the part played by Poles in the city.