Fatal collision - Hampshire Constabulary, March 2017
On Sunday 26 March 2017, from the early afternoon until late evening, a large group of people from the Traveller community were drinking in public houses in the Woolston area of Southampton. Throughout the day, members of the public made a number of calls to Hampshire Constabulary reporting the group had left their ponies and traps in the road, while the ponies were also causing damage to the roadside. This resulted in police officers attending the scene and speaking to the group. Information was obtained that suggested the travellers would continue to drink into the evening, as they were due to attend a party in another area of Southampton.
From 9.01pm until 10.49pm, a further nine calls were made by members of the public to Hampshire Constabulary. They reported a group of Travellers racing ponies and traps along Portsmouth Road, potentially under the influence of alcohol, in addition to causing obstructions to other motorists. No police officers were deployed to the scene in response to these calls.
At 11.30pm, Hampshire Constabulary received a call reporting that a person who had been driving a horse and cart along Portsmouth Road had been involved in a fatal road traffic collision. The caller said that the person had been driving his pony and trap along an unlit section of Portsmouth Road and had been struck from behind by a car travelling in the same direction.
During the investigation we obtained accounts from Senior Management within the control room and control room staff. We served three members of police staff with notices that they were under investigation for potential breaches of the standards of professional behaviour in relation to closing incident logs, failing to escalate the incident, failing to record a rationale when closing incident logs, and failing to ensure the incident was adequately resolved. All three provided a response to the allegations detailed in their notices.
We examined relevant national and local policies and legislation, including training documentation. We obtained and examined the incident logs for the day when the incident occurred, as well as transcripts of the calls made by members of the public.
Based on the evidence available, at the end of the investigation, we were of the opinion that the three members of staff in the control room had not breached the standards of professional behaviour, but that their performance may be considered to be unsatisfactory. We recommended that they receive management action.
After reviewing our report Hampshire Constabulary agreed that all three would receive management action so that they are aware of how their actions fell short and modify their conduct in the future. The force also commented that the policies and procedures which should support effective decision making and the recording of the rationale for such decisions appeared not to be robust enough, and that they would ensure that these are rectified.