PC sacked after driving without MOT and lying

A police officer has been dismissed after driving his vehicle without a valid MOT and lying to an inspector about it.

PC Benjamin Warmington, from Alnwick, Northumberland, was found to have driven his Ford minibus illegally on 51 occasions, until an anonymous letter tipped off Northumbria Police.

A misconduct hearing also ruled he had lied to his police inspector, by saying he only drove the vehicle for repairs.

The panel found him guilty of gross misconduct, dismissed him without notice and placed him on the the College of Policing Barred List.

Mr Warmington, who joined the force in 2001, received a commendation in 2009 for saving a woman's life.

He said his MOT expired in August 2022 but he was unaware it had lapsed until he found a note on his minibus the following January.

The officer said he booked the test straight away but continued to drive until an anonymous letter was sent to his inspector.

Mr Warmington said he was under emotional stress and he "didn't use any space in my head because there wasn't any".

The panel chair, Nick Hawkins, said if the PC had made "full admissions" and not lied to his inspector, the "matter may well have taken a different course".

However, Mr Hawkins went on to say: "The public expect police officers to have the highest standards of honesty and integrity, and you have not displayed these."

The panel concluded the only sanction it could impose to "protect the public's confidence in policing" was dismissal without notice.

Northumbria Police's head of professional standards, Det Supt Donna Rose, said the "overwhelming majority" of officers "make a positive difference to people's lives".

"We are determined to ensure their efforts are not overshadowed by the actions of those who do not share these same values."

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