Police compensation bid rejected

Tayside Police Chief Constable John Vine was sued by Graham Jones

A former soldier who claimed he was injured when a speeding police car hit him has lost his compensation bid.

Graham Jones sued Tayside Police Chief Constable John Vine over allegations he was left with a broken arm after his vehicle was struck by a patrol car.

However, a sheriff has thrown out the £70,000 claim after ruling that Mr Jones was responsible for the accident.

Sheriff Robert McCreadie found he had been speeding and had lost control of his car shortly before the accident.

In a written judgment, the sheriff dismissed Mr Jones' claim that the police had concocted a false version of events to pin the blame on him.

'Excessive speed'

"There's no reason whatsoever to suppose any witness was involved in some kind of conspiracy to concoct an account of the collision pinning the blame on the pursuer," Sheriff McCreadie said.

"There's not a shred of evidence for such a conspiracy, which exists purely in the mind of the pursuer.

"The sole cause of the collision was the pursuer negotiating the junction at speed and losing control of his vehicle."

Sheriff McCreadie found that Mr Jones, 31, a former Black Watch soldier from Perth, attempted to negotiate a junction at an excessive speed and lost control of his Peugeot 306.

His civil case at Perth Sheriff Court claimed he was injured when his vehicle was struck by a marked patrol car being driven by PC Graham Lee on 13 August 2000, on the town's Burghmuir Road.