A police officer who admitted to knowingly avoiding paying practice fares has been sacked for breaching requirements of “honesty and integrity” and “discreditable conduct”.
PC Luke Goddard, who joined the Met Police in 2000 and moved to Devon in 2003, had been on long run sick go away following an on-duty damage in 2019.
Throughout a house go to by a supervisor, Sergeant Edwards, in June 2024, he was requested whether or not the price of journey was a barrier to his full return to obligation.
The officer disclosed that he solely paid the £34 fare between Axminster in Devon and Salisbury in Wiltshire “round half of the time” as ticket obstacles had been open and employees allowed him to journey without spending a dime on manufacturing of a warrant card.
Mr Goddard, who legitimately used a concession for Metropolitan Law enforcement officials to journey so far as Salisbury, instructed the listening to that he didn’t consider he had acted dishonestly when he relied on “the discretion” of practice managers.
However the panel discovered he used his place as a police constable to “circumvent fee” between Wiltshire and Devon – two stations that he was not entitled to journey between with no legitimate ticket.
Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist discovered that Luke Goddard had used his place as a police officer to “achieve a monetary benefit”.
Mr Twist stated the general public wouldn’t anticipate a serving police officer to behave in the best way the officer had and that solely dismissal with out discover was applicable.
Mr Goddard, who left the constructing earlier than the dismissal sanction was handed down, will probably be added to the Faculty of Policing barred record.
The rail business says that fare evasion prices about £240m a yr and the associated fee is felt by taxpayers and fare-paying passengers.
