Dorset Police Superintendent guilty of gross misconduct over car misuse

The seven-day hearing was held at Dorset Police headquarters in Winfrith

A senior police officer committed gross misconduct by using his force car for more than 900 miles of personal journeys, a tribunal has found.

The disciplinary hearing found Supt Michael Rogers, who retired from Dorset Police in May, committed four breaches of professional standards.

They included a trip to transport a sofa on the vehicle's roof, as well as trips to recycling centres and B&Q.

It was decided that had he still been employed, he would have been dismissed.

The panel found Mr Rogers made four breaches of professional standards between 2015 and 2019.

The hearing was told he used pool and hire vehicles for private journeys and other work journeys that he was not entitled to do, as well as under-declaring the amount of private mileage he drove in force vehicles.

Mr Rogers was also accused at the tribunal of claiming expenses "far more" than the cost of meals he had taken.

Mark Ley-Morgan, the lawyer presenting the case against Mr Rogers, said he was given an essential user allowance to use his private car for work journeys, but he continued to use pool cars and hire cars.

In February 2017, Mr Rogers declared 487 miles of work mileage and 100 miles of personal mileage - which all occurred while he was actually on secondment to the Falklands, Mr Ley-Morgan added.

During the tribunal Mr Rogers denied being dishonest and told the panel: "I do not dispute the use of the vehicles, I think I have sound operational reasons to use those specific vehicles."

He added: "I do not give a stuff about some travel policy, I am here to save lives and that's what I did."

The seven-day misconduct hearing was held at Dorset Police Headquarters in Winfrith between 27 October and 3 November.