Police officer sacked over blue-light crash

A panel at North Yorkshire Police's headquarters found TC Ham guilty of gross misconduct

A North Yorkshire Police traffic constable has been dismissed after he crashed a police car but continued on a blue-light call.

TC Nicholas Ham was driving on Huntington Road in York at about 20:00 GMT on 31 December 2022, when the BMW 340 hit and drove over a central reservation at speed.

However, he did not alert the police control room to the crash, instead reporting it as a standard puncture to be repaired.

TC Ham told a panel, which later found him guilty of gross misconduct, that he was reluctant to proactively report the detail as he feared "backlash of banter from colleagues", North Yorkshire Police documents said.

The report added that he did not believe he was "required to report anything other than the puncture" because of a lack of warning lights and his own "vehicle handling testing".

He said that he "weaved the car from left to right" to check the steering and continued to check the dashboard for warning lights.

"He asserted that these checks were sufficient to reassure him that there was no further damage caused, and there was no further danger to himself, his passenger or the public," the report said.

Having failed his fitness test on two occasions, TC Ham was double-crewed at all times, usually with the officer who was his passenger at the time of the crash.

According to the report, she "reported hearing a loud bang, feeling a jolt" and "almost immediately hearing the 'flapping' sounds associated with a flat tyre".

The tyre-pressure monitoring system also indicated a loss of pressure, she said.

TC Ham disputed her account that she could hear the "flapping" sound and that she had told him to stop the car and check for damage.

According to the papers, TC Ham told the misconduct hearing on 8 September that he had not continued to drive with blue lights on.

"This differed from his Regulation 18 written response where he said the lights were only deactivated at the point where he realised one tyre had fully deflated," the report added.

It stated that he had continued to drive above the speed limit with blue lights activated, overtaking other vehicles for 1.8 miles (2.9km), when he "could not be certain the vehicle was safe to drive".

TC Ham also told the panel he would have acted the same way again in those circumstances, despite stating in his written response that he "could have stopped to check the car earlier".

Previous crashes

The "inconsistencies" gave the panel "reservations about the truthfulness and accuracy of his evidence", the report said.

It said he had not taken three separate opportunities to report the crash, either to North Yorkshire Police's vehicle garage or a senior officer.

It added that TC Ham had been the driver during two previous crashes, one of which "bore remarkable similarities to the events in question" and resulted in his suspension from driving.

He was also warned that further incident may jeopardise his position on the road traffic team, and he had only just been reaccredited as an advanced driver.

The panel rejected a suggestion that TC Ham was being bullied at work, saying there was no "cogent evidence, information of substance to support this".

They also concluded that he demonstrated a "lack of insight as to how serious the incident was".

The report said: "On his own admission, TC Ham stated he felt embarrassed about having another collision and was worried that his colleagues would ridicule him.

"Whilst the panel did not doubt TC Ham's embarrassment, it was still insufficient reason to absolve his accountability and dishonesty."

The panel found that TC Ham's conduct "breached the standards of professional behaviour relating to discreditable conduct and honesty and integrity, amounting individually and collectively to gross misconduct".

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