86mph Police Chief is Let Off With Written Warning

Daily Mail, Tuesday, October 25, 2005
by Ben Taylor, Crime Correspondent

One of the country's most senior traffic policemen escaped with a written warning after being driven at 86mph because he was late for a meeting.

Chief Superintendent Les Owen, who heads Scotland Yard's traffic division, let his driver use his blue flashing lights and siren to dodge traffic.

At one stage, his Vauxhall Omega was travelling at more than twice the speed limit as it reached 82mph in a 40mph zone. The car then did 86mph in a 50mph zone.

Last night road safety campaigners called the decision to give him a warning ‘appalling.' They said he should not be allowed to keep his job.

Footage taken from the car is said to show Mr Owen's impatience as other drivers held up his vehicle. On one occasion he bellowed: “Use your mirrors” at another motorist.

Scotland Yard said yesterday that a disciplinary hearing had decided he should not suffer any loss of rank or financial penalty over the incident in February last year.

He could have been forced to resign if found guilty of serious misconduct. Instead he received a written warning for ‘failing to challenge the manner in which a police officer drove a car in which he was a passenger.'

Kevin Delaney, a former Met traffic officer who is now head of safety at the RAC Foundation, said Mr Owen should have been punished more severely. “He was in charge. All he had to do was tell the driver to slow down,” he added. “The police exemption from speed limits is there for responding to 999 calls. It was never intended for cases when an officer is late for a meeting.”

A spokesman for the road safety charity Brake described the reprimand as ‘frankly appalling.' He said: “He should clearly not be allowed to keep his job. He should know better than anyone the devastating consequences of high speed car crashes. Speeding is endemic on our roads and the most dangerous places are residential areas where you have children and other people who at 86mph would not survive if hit. He cannot head up anti-speeding campaigns if he clearly does not believe the message he is putting across.”

At the launch of a traffic initiative in February 2003, Mr Owen said: “The fact is that speeding kills. Having witnessed first hand the suffering of families whose loved ones have been seriously injured or tragically killed, I would strongly urge all motorists not to speed.”

Mr Owen's driver, PC Mark Bradley, 44, was prosecuted and received a £250 fine and six penalty points over the incident. That was later reduced to three points on appeal.

The incident first came to light during a police investigation into a fatal road accident which Mr Owen and his driver encountered along the route but which was unrelated to their car.

Footage from the vehicle was given to investigators in case it gave clues. In the end, it revealed how fast the car had been travelling in a non-emergency.

Hundreds of officers escape prosecution for speeding every year. They routinely claim they have a valid excuse, but the apparent ‘two-tier' system of justice infuriates the millions of ordinary drivers fined each year.

In Sussex, figures show that 105 officers were caught speeding last year. Of those, 103 escaped punishment while the remaining two decided to plead in court that they had a good excuse.

In Derbyshire, 59 notices were sent to police drivers last year but not one was prosecuted. During that time, 47000 ordinary drivers were given a £60 fine.

In North Wales, where the police force is run by ‘speed camera king' Richard Brunstrom, just six officers were prosecuted out of 101 caught. Even when cases are brought to court, magistrates often look sympathetically on policemen.

In May, a West Mercia officer who drove at 159mph was cleared of dangerous driving and speeding. Mark Milton, 38, told a court he was ‘familiarising himself' with his squad car.

Last year Greater Manchester Police assistant chief constable Steve Thomas escaped a driving ban after arguing he was speeding ‘safely' at 104mph. Mr Thomas, head of the force's traffic unit, was fined £450 and given six points.

Concerns have been raised over the standard of police driving. Last year saw 35 deaths during police chases or emergency callouts – four times the figure for 1997. Nearly 40 people are injured every week in collisions with police vehicles. Last year, the number of injuries soared by 60 per cent to 2015.