Officer Jailed for Disqualified Driving of Police Vehicles

A former Gloucestershire police officer has been jailed for driving police vehicles whilst disqualified.

Miles Caffull, 26, of Saxon Way, Ledbury, Herefordshire, admitted driving whilst disqualified when he appeared at Kidderminster Magistrates' Court on Monday, 15th January 2024.

Driving whilst disqualified is an offence under section 103 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. It has maximum penalty of 26 weeks' custody and/or a fine at level 5 (unlimited) on summary conviction.

Caffull also admitted an offence of driving without valid third party insurance, which nearly always goes hand-in-hand with driving whilst disqualified.

The court heard that Caffull, who recently resigned from Gloucestershire Constabulary, was disqualified from driving under the totting up rule, having accumulated 12 or more penalty points on his licence within a 3 year period. The 6 month disqualification was imposed on 26th May 2023.

However, on the very same day he learnt that he was disqualified, the 26-year-old response officer drove his Kia Xceed motor vehicle to his place of work in Gloucester.

For the next month, despite knowing he needed to report his disqualification to his employers, he kept quiet and continued driving his personal and police vehicles. Only when news of his disqualification was published in the local newspaper, did he eventually come clean to bosses.

Owen Beale, prosecuting, said: "He made the decision to drive to and from work and whilst carrying out his duties as a serving police officer using marked vehicles on blue lights.

"He did finally report his disqualification to his sergeant on 20th June, the day the local newspaper reported that he had been disqualified from driving.

"It was only at that moment it came to light for Gloucestershire Constabulary."

Collin Phillips, mitigating, said: "He accepts he has been stupid and he doesn't understand entirely why he did what he did and what led him to do it.

"If he had reported his disqualification to his sergeant immediately, he could have been put on other duties. He has lost his job for no particular reason."

District Judge Ian Strongman, sentencing, described Caffull's offences as a "gross and flagrant" breach of the law.

Addressing the defendant, he said: "You had at least 12 points on your driving licence and as a serving police officer, you should have known better.

"You had plenty of opportunity to realise your offending was going to get you in deep water.

"It is a tremendous coincidence that it was the day the press wrote about it in the paper that you decided to tell your sergeant."

Caffull was sentenced to 12 weeks' immediate custody.

He was ordered to pay £85 towards prosecution costs and £154 surcharge.

He was also disqualified from driving for a period of 18 months.

Detective Superintendent Alastair Stenner, Gloucestershire Constabulary's Head of Professional Standards, said: "Regulations and the Code of Ethics, which every officer must adhere to, state very clearly that officers must report as soon as reasonably practical any occasion where they have been subject to a number of sanctions, including a road traffic offence.

"Clearly Miles Caffull knew he was taking an incredible risk by continuing to drive police vehicles during this time.

"He was flouting the laws he swore to uphold, putting the public at risk and bringing the Constabulary into disrepute every time he got behind the wheel.

"The sentence today reflects the seriousness of his offending and the disregard shown over such a long period.

"In this case the misconduct proceedings could not be completed until the court outcome. We will now look to fast track a gross misconduct hearing which will decide if the officer would have been dismissed if he was still serving.

"We are also reminding all officers of the very clear obligation on their part to report traffic offences internally and we will be reinforcing this message throughout the coming months.

"Officers are subject to re-vetting checks after a period of time and, in line with national policy, a data wash against national databases has recently been carried out in connection with all officers and staff to provide public confidence.

"Any information that suggests officers have not disclosed offences will be investigated and those officers subject to appropriate disciplinary proceedings."