London’s football clubs should cover the £4million annual cost of policing outside grounds on matchdays, according to Lib Dem mayoral candidate Caroline Pidgeon.

The London Assembly member highlighted the budget pressures faced by the Metropolitan Police service in a written question to Mayor Boris Johnson and it was revealed that the 2014/15 football season generated a £4.2million bill for the Met police.

Chelsea FC created the largest bill, which was £627,275, but South and West London clubs Brentford, Crystal Palace and AFC Wimbledon generated unrecovered costs of £327,291, £379,549 and £50,920 respectively during the same period.

Ms Pidgeon, is calling for the clubs themselves to cover these costs and said: “Just this week the Met’s Commissioner has warned Londoners of the immense budget pressures now facing our police service with the possible prospect of thousands of police officers posts being lost.

“At a time when budgets are so incredibly stretched it is simply madness that commercial football teams, some of which are owned by billionaires and paying out million pound salaries to their players, are not paying the full police costs generated by their matches.”