A Thames Valley Police officer, PC Darren Hall, arrived at work reeking of alcohol and attributed the odour to cough syrup he claimed to have consumed the previous night.
PC Darren Hall was discovered to have an alcohol level above double the permissible limit for duty at Banbury station in October 2023 and was escorted home by a colleague from Thames Valley Police (TVP).
He stated that he had cough medicine, three large glasses of wine, half a pint of homemade cider, and additional pills the night prior to his work shift.
A panel determined that he had engaged in gross misconduct, resulting in a three-year final written warning.
PC Darren Hall exhibited a breath alcohol concentration of 33 microgrammes per 100 millilitres. TVP stated that the threshold for its personnel is 13mg per 100ml of exhaled breath. The legal driving limit is 35mg of alcohol per 100ml of breath.
Adam Keenaghan, for TVP, said PC Darren Hall told the force that he had been “swigging [the medicine] during the night” and did not sleep much because of a cough.
A forensic toxicologist found PC Darren Hall’s “assumed drinking pattern [did] not account for the measured breath alcohol concentration”.
They concluded that PC Darren Hall “must have consumed more alcohol than has been assumed”.
The officer, who has more than 20 years’ service, admitted misconduct but denied gross misconduct.
The panel found PC Darren Hall was “valued in the workplace by his supervisors and his peers alike” but that the length of final written warning would “serve as a deterrent to others”.
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