Sacked PC loses appeal

Bexhill man Tim Guest was sacked from his 23,000 a year job at the beginning of the year after he was reported for making the remark to other officers while returning from a training exercise last November.

An ethnic teenager had walked in front of their car and Mr Guest, 40, had joked: "Watch the macaroon, we almost potted the black."

The sergeant driving the vehicle reported him and he lost his job after he was called before a disciplinary panel.

Mr Guest had denied he was racist and said the comment had been made in innocence.

"I'm not saying it was an appropriate comment to make. It was a silly thing to say but the action taken against me was dramatic to say the least."

He had a three year unblemished record of service as a beat officer and felt he had been harshly treated.

His appeal was backed by friends and colleagues, both black and white, and the police support group Protect the Protectors who believed the comment would normally have been dealt with by a senior officer taking him to one side and making a note in his pocket book, not by dismissal.

A Sussex Police spokesman said the decision requiring Timothy Guest to resign had been upheld by the Police Appeals Tribunal and they accepted this decision.

She said Mr Guest had gone before the tribunal, headed by an independent Q.C, in October at county hall and the confirmation of their decision was received last Friday.

Mr Guest told the Observer this week: "It's very disappointing and I think anybody in their right mind can see it's a political statement being made.

"It was an inappropriate comment at the time, but did it deserve that kind of punishment?

"There was actually a recent appeal elsewhere where a police officer was found guilty of ABH and was reinstated.

"I will leave up to you and your readers to decide if what has happened to me is just or not."

He added: "There isn't much more I can say until we have actually had the written findings of the appeal board and we will go through it to see if we have grounds for judicial review."