A police officer has been sacked after he crashed his car in York.
TC Nicholas Ham lost his job following a gross misconduct hearing by North Yorkshire Police.
The hearing was told that TC Ham was on duty driving a marked BMW 340 police car on Huntington Road in York on 31 December 2022.
At or around 8pm, he was driving to an incident with emergency blue lights engaged.
The misconduct report says: “Rain was heavy, leading to poor conditions. Whilst driving, you collided with a central reservation on Huntington Road, York, driving over the same. The collision had damaged the vehicle you were driving.”
A warning light came on warning of low tyre pressure, and TC Ham that his vehicle might have sustained damage and be in a dangerous condition.
There were two allegations. First, that he continued to drive to the emergency incident “despite the possible consequences for you and others due to the extent of the damage being unknown”.
And second, that he failed to disclose the crash or report the damage, and sought “to report a standard puncture and arrange a call out repair. In doing so, you were not being open and honest.”
TC Ham was driving with another officer as a passenger on the night. She gave evidence that she’d told him to cease driving after the collision, and to report it.
She said she was “shocked, bewildered and stunned when TC Ham did not stop to check the vehicle, even after she asked him to do so”.
The report said “he continued to drive above the speed limit, kept his blue lights activated and actively overtook vehicles (that were carrying passengers) for 1.8 miles, at a time when he could not be certain the vehicle was safe to drive”.
TC Ham was also said to have concealed the fact he suffered broken ribs in the crash.
In his defence, TC Ham said he thought he only had to report a standard puncture after the crash.
He also said two colleagues had been “bullying or gossiping” about him, making him reluctant to disclose information.
In the hearing at the North Yorkshire Police HQ in Northallerton, the officers “emphatically and convincingly denied the allegations of either overtly or indirectly bullying TC Ham”, and were believed by the panel.
In his evidence, TC Ham “accepted that he should have told someone that he had driven over a central reservation at speed, and in not doing so his actions were wrong”.
The hearing report said: “The panel had no hesitation in rejecting the suggestion that TC Ham believed he did not need to report the full circumstances of the collision after the event.”
The panel, chaired by Assistant Chief Officer Sarah Jackson, found TC Ham guilty of gross misconduct and he was dismissed.
