Collision involving police vehicle - Thames Valley Police, January 2018

On 2 January 2018, a Thames Valley Police (TVP) vehicle was responding to an emergency call in Didcot, Oxfordshire. While driving along the A4130 towards Wallingford, the TVP vehicle collided with a taxi and then a third vehicle. The occupants of the police vehicle and taxi were taken to hospital with serious injuries.

During the investigation, our investigators interviewed and obtained statements from a number of witnesses, as well as the occupants of the three vehicles involved in the collision, including the police officer driving the vehicle. They also obtained evidence from a vehicle examiner and a collision expert, along with medical records and tests conducted on the drivers of the vehicles.

Evidence suggested that the police driver may have failed to give due consideration to the prevailing conditions, and failed to apply force guidelines regarding the speed at which they were driving, which then reduced their opportunity to react to changing road conditions. We were of the view that evidence suggested that the police driver’s failure to apply appropriate speed to allow time to react to changing conditions may have contributed to or resulted in serious physical harm to three other people.

Based on the evidence available, we were of the opinion that the driver of the police vehicle may have a case to answer for gross misconduct. We concluded our investigation in June 2018.

After reviewing our report, TVP agreed that the police driver should attend a gross misconduct hearing.

At the hearing, which took place in spring 2019, an independent panel found that the police driver’s actions led to the accident, with resulting serious injuries and damage, and that, given the circumstances, such an outcome was reasonably foreseeable. The panel considered that it was a single episode resulting from the misjudgement of an otherwise highly effective and diligent officer, undertaken for a legitimate police purpose. Taking all factors into account they found that the appropriate sanction was one of management advice.