Last updated 16:11, Friday, 09 May 2008

LAWYERS for Cumbria’s Chief Constable has mounted a High Court bid to kill off a £500,000 damages claim brought by nine elite detectives who say they were unjustly accused of misusing police vehicles.

The nine officers faced internal disciplinary proceedings over claims that they “used police vehicles for private purposes”, their solicitor, David Franey, said yesterday.

The allegations mainly related to journeys made by officers to and from work, said Mr Franey outside court, adding that a probe into the claims had also involved “some surveillance”.

The investigation and disciplinary proceedings lasted three years, he added, but all the charges against the officers were ultimately dismissed. Mr Franey said the nine believed the disciplinary proceedings “should never have been brought”.

The inquiry, he said, cost around £1.6 million. The officers are now suing the Chief Constable of Cumbria for alleged financial loss and damage done to their reputations by the disciplinary proceedings.

Lawyers for the Chief Constable reject any suggestions of bad faith and say the nine officers’ cases should be dismissed as they have no reasonable prospect of succeeding.

And the case came before senior judge Mr Justice Tugendhat in the High Court in London yesterday as the Chief Constable’s lawyers urged the judge to “strike out” the damages claims.

The legal action was launched after an investigation, codenamed Operation Pool, which began in June 2000 and ended three years later with all the detectives cleared of any wrongdoing.