A police officer who failed to fully report the damage caused to his car after a crash in York has been sacked.

Traffic constable Nicholas Ham was driving a marked BMW police car during heavy rainfall when it crashed with the central reservation in Huntington Road on December 31, 2022.

A misconduct hearing at North Yorkshire Police's Northallerton headquarters heard Mr Ham failed to report the full damage of the crash, saying it was "just a puncture and nothing more serious".

It also heard that Mr Ham continued to drive above the speed limit with the car's blue lights on after the crash - an allegation he denied.

The hearing's panel concluded that Mr Ham "demonstrated a significant lack of insight as to how serious this incident was".

"He did not seem to grasp the risk that he had put himself or others in, but instead concentrated on deflecting the blame for not reporting the full circumstances towards other people," the panel said.

It found that Mr Ham's behaviour had amounted to gross misconduct and said the "only appropriate" option was for North Yorkshire Police to dismiss the officer without notice.

Mr Ham reported a standard puncture and arranged a call out to repair the tyre after the crash, the hearing was told.

But an inspection found that two alloys and all four tyres on the car needed to be replaced to pass safety checks.

There was a "loud bang" and "flapping" associated with a flat tyre after the crash, the hearing heard.

The officer who was in the passenger seat of the car said she was "shocked, bewildered and stunned" when Mr Ham did not stop to check the vehicle.

Mr Ham told the panel he disputed the officer's account that she could hear the "flapping" sound and that she had told him to stop and check for damage.

The hearing heard that Mr Ham did reduce his speed after the crash but "continued to drive above the speed limit" and "kept his blue lights activated".

He also "actively overtook vehicles" for 1.8 miles while he "could not be certain the vehicle was safe to drive", the panel was told.

Mr Ham told the panel he continued to check the dashboard for warning lights and "weaved" his car "from left to right" to check the steering.

"He [Mr Ham] asserted that these checks were sufficient to reassure him that there was no further damage caused, and there was no further danger to himself, his passenger or the public," the panel said.

It added that an "officer of TC Ham's experience would know that a strike to the wheels at excess speed could cause damage beyond a puncture".

During cross examination, Mr Ham accepted the importance of "telling the truth when a car is involved in an accident, both to enable the full facts being established and also so that safety checks could be carried out", the panel said.

He also accepted that "he should have told someone that he had driven over a central reservation at speed, and in not doing so his actions were wrong", it added.

The panel said it rejected Mr Ham's "deflection of blame by claiming he was nervous about disclosing information due to the alleged bullying he had been experiencing at work".

It was told that Mr Ham had been the driver during two other crashes, the most recent taking place 11 months earlier.

He was suspended from driving following the previous collision and had "only just fully reaccredited as an advanced driver" when the crash happened in December 2022, the hearing heard.

Police officer who failed to report full damage after crash in York is sacked