Norfolk amnesia crash case not covered-up - chief constable

Chief Constable Paul Sanford denies a case of two officers failing to report a crash promptly was covered-up

A chief constable has denied a cover-up in a case involving an officer who drove on after a car crash.

Amnesia meant the driver had no memory of the crash on the A146 at Barnby in Suffolk in March 2022, Norfolk Chief Constable Paul Sanford said.

He added the officer had since been given three diagnoses of a neurological condition and was no longer driving.

A second officer in the car is facing misconduct proceedings for failing to report the collision immediately.

Mr Sanford told a Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) accountability meeting that the two officers were returning to their station at the end of their shift when their car collided with an Audi.

They failed to stop at the scene, and the officer who was a passenger did not report the crash until the following day.

However, the woman driving the Audi had called 101 to report what had happened.

Mr Sanford said both vehicles had been doing about 50mph (80km/h) in the same direction and it was "a coming together, rather than a smash".

He said the "minor damage [caused] doesn't take away from the seriousness of the event" and apologised for what had happened in the case.

Criminal charges were initially brought against the driver, but were dropped following medical reports.

Mr Sanford said the driver had previously passed "all health and fitness requirements".

Norfolk Police and Crime Commissioner Giles Orpen-Smellie questioned the chief constable over a crash involving two officers

Asked by PCC Giles Orpen-Smellie how he would respond to an allegation of "collusion and cover-up" over the case, Mr Sanford replied: "That simply hasn't occurred."

He also confirmed that a misconduct case into the officer who was a passenger could not be completed until the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) had finished its investigation into a complaint from the female driver of the other car.

Mr Sanford said he understood the IOPC investigation could take a "significant period" to finish, but his force had "encouraged them to expedite it".

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