Alnwick police officer sacked after driving without MOT and lying to inspector

PC Benjamin Warmington was found to have driven his Ford minibus illegally on 51 occasions between November 2022 and February 2023, until an anonymous letter tipped off Northumbria Police.

A misconduct hearing also ruled he had lied to his police inspector, by saying he only drove the vehicle for repairs.

The panel found him guilty of gross misconduct, dismissed him without notice and placed him on the the College of Policing Barred List.

Panel chairman Nick Hawkins told PC Warmington: “You have been a police officer for 22 years and are clearly held in high regard by fellow police officers. The Panel recognises that there were stresses in your personal life between November 2022 and February 2023.

“However, you chose to break the law repeatedly by driving without an MOT. Officers who uphold the law should not be breaking it. When this came to light you lied to your Inspector and repeated the lie the next day.

"Had you made full admissions as to the extent of your driving without an MOT and not lied to your Inspector, this matter may well have taken a different course or resulted in a different outcome. However, the public expect police officers to have the highest standards of honesty and integrity and you have not displayed these.

“The panel concluded that the only sanction we could impose to protect the public’s confidence in, and the reputation of, policing was one of dismissal without notice.”

Mr Warmington, who joined the force in 2001, initially working out of Berwick, received a commendation in 2009 for saving a woman's life when he managed to get her out of a car in a river. His Inspector had described him as an excellent police officer who was hardworking and proactive.

PC Warmington told the panel his MOT expired in August 2022. He did not get his vehicle tested and said he was unaware the MOT had lapsed. He said that this was no excuse, and it was embarrassing to the police and to colleagues. It was an administrative failing.

The panel heard that the matter was brought to the attention of the Inspector in February 2024. The officer assured the Inspector that the only time the Minibus had been driven was when he had been taking it for repair.

The letter claimed that the Minibus had been driven each day without a valid MOT certificate, contrary to what the officer had told him in their phone call the previous day.

PC Warmington disputed the content of the letter and repeated to the Inspector that the Minibus had only ever been driven for repairs.

The Inspector made it clear to the officer that the Minibus could only be driven when being taken for an MOT inspection/garage.

The Inspector said that PC Warmington had certainly told him the only time he drove the vehicle was when he was going for repairs.

The officer did not suggest that the Inspector had lied but claimed that the Inspector was mistaken in his interpretation of their conversations.

The panel found the facts to be proved on the balance of probabilities.