A police officer who admitted to knowingly fending off paying teach fares has been sacked for breaching requirements of “honesty and integrity” and “discreditable behavior”.
PC Luke Goddard, who joined the Met Police in 2000 and moved to Devon in 2003, have been on long run in poor health depart following an on-duty damage in 2019.
All the way through a house seek advice from by way of a manager, Sergeant Edwards, in June 2024, he was once requested whether or not the price of trip was once a barrier to his complete go back to responsibility.
The officer disclosed that he best paid the £34 fare between Axminster in Devon and Salisbury in Wiltshire “round part of the time” as price tag limitations have been open and workforce allowed him to trip without spending a dime on manufacturing of a warrant card.
Mr Goddard, who legitimately used a concession for Metropolitan Cops to trip between London and Salisbury, informed the listening to that he didn’t imagine he had acted dishonestly when he depended on “the discretion” of teach managers.
However the panel discovered he used his place as a police constable to “circumvent cost” between Wiltshire and Devon – two stations that he was once now not entitled to trip between with no legitimate price tag.
Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist discovered that Luke Goddard had used his place as a police officer to “acquire a monetary benefit”.
Mr Twist stated the general public would now not be expecting a serving police officer to act in the best way the officer had and that best dismissal with out understand was once suitable.
Mr Goddard, who left the construction prior to the dismissal sanction was once passed 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 fee is felt by way of taxpayers and fare-paying passengers.
