Chief Constable Jo Farrell made the "error of judgement" less than two weeks into her new job and while emergency services dealt with the flooding and disruption caused by the severe weather.

It is understood the Police Scotland officer drove Ms Farrell from Edinburgh to her home in Northumberland and then dropped a Durham Constabulary colleague off in Gateshead before returning north of the border, according to The Scottish Sun.

The incident - roughly a 240-mile roundtrip for the on-duty driver - occurred on 20 October.

Ms Farrell, the former chief constable of Durham Constabulary, took over from Sir Iain Livingstone on 9 October.

She said: "I requested my office to arrange for a car to drive me home to the Northumberland area after work.

"I was unable to complete the journey by train as services had been cancelled and my own police vehicle was unavailable.

"I have apologised for this error of judgement."

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A spokesperson for the Scottish Police Authority said: "The authority is aware the chief constable used a police vehicle following the cancellation of a scheduled train journey.

"The chair has discussed this with the chief constable who has apologised.

"The authority considers the matter closed."