Cop was driving too fast when he crashed into oncoming car

A POLICE officer crashed into an oncoming car while pursuing a suspect vehicle at speed in a van, a court has heard.

- JASON EVANS

Constable Phillip Thomas crossed the white lines in the middle of the road as he took a bend at 59mph and hit a car coming in the opposite direction before slamming into a lamppost.

The car which PC Thomas hit suffered “extensive damage” in the collision, and its driver minor injuries in the form of cuts and abrasions.

Swansea Crown Court heard the officer had passed a police driving course which permitted him to drive at 20mph above the speed limit when necessary, but that at the time of the crash he was exceeding the limit by 29mph.

The officer, who was removed from frontline policing following the incident, will now be subject to a police disciplinary procedure for gross misconduct.

Nik Strobl, prosecuting, told the court that the incident occurred in the early hours of September 29 last year when PC Thomas and a colleague were in a marked police van in Ammanford.

He said at 2.20am a white hatch-back car outside the Cottage Inn pub drew the attention of officers, and they began to follow it.

The court heard that the car initially drove at normal speed but when it reached Ammanford College it accelerated away on the 30mph road. The officers illuminated the blue lights on their Vauxhall Vivaro van and pursued it.