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A Kent police officer will be given management advice for driving too fast for the road conditions and causing a collision during the 2018 ‘Beast from the East’ storm.

Following an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), a misconduct hearing was arranged by Kent Police and held on Tuesday 12 May 2020 via video-link.

Police Constable Mark Sloane admitted misconduct and an independent panel found he had breached the Standards of Professional Behaviour when his driving caused a collision in Courtenay Road, Maidstone, just after 9pm on 1 March 2018.

The collision occurred during a severe weather system, dubbed the Beast from the East, that created some of the most testing freezing weather experienced in the UK for years.

PC Sloane was responding to the emergency report of a burglary in progress. He was driving 56mph in a 30mph zone when he lost control and collided with one car as it was being parked outside a local shop and two parked vehicles. The driver of the first vehicle sustained a broken collarbone and an officer who was a passenger in the police car broke a finger.

We examined information from the black box of the car PC Sloane was driving which showed the speed he was travelling and that his anti-lock braking system kicked in – indicating he was skidding on ice. We took witness statements and obtained a report from a forensic investigator who attended the scene.

Our investigation ended in October 2018 and in February 2019 the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) proceeded with his prosecution.
PC Sloane was convicted of careless driving at Woolwich Crown Court on 9 December 2019. He was fined £450 with costs of £130 and had eight penalty points put on his driving licence.

We gave Kent Police our final report and findings that PC Sloane had a case to answer for gross misconduct. Kent Police agreed and organised the misconduct proceedings this week.

PC Sloane will now be given management advice, the lowest level of misconduct. The panel decided it was “a one-off lapse falling at the bottom end of the scale of misconduct.”

IOPC Regional Director for London and the South East, Sarah Green yesterday said:

“When responding to incidents, the first aim of any police officer should be to arrive safely. PC Sloane was called out to a theft but wasn’t able to deal with that incident because of his careless driving. And he injured two people and damaged vehicles as a result.

“The public expect police to protect them – not only was this a clear breach of the Standards of Professional Behaviour he was expected to maintain, but driving at 56mph in a 30mph zone during severe snow and icy conditions was careless and put both PC Sloane and others at risk.

“We hope PC Sloane reflects on the lessons to be learnt from this.”