Lake v British Transport Police

EAT: Judge Serota QC: 8 September 2006

In 1997 the claimant, a police constable employed by the respondent force, witnessed inappropriate behaviour by two fellow officers but did not report the incident to his superiors until four years later. After a disciplinary hearing before the police disciplinary board, the board found him guilty of failing in his duty as a police constable to report the matter for immediate investigation, contrary to the police code of conduct, and it directed that he be dismissed. His dismissal was upheld on review by the chief constable. He made a complaint of unfair dismissal to an employment tribunal challenging the findings of the police disciplinary board and alleging that the reason for his dismissal was that he had made a protected disclosure within section 43B(1) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and his dismissal was automatically unfair under section 103A. The tribunal held as a preliminary issue that it had no jurisdiction to hear the complaint in so far as it sought to impugn the decision of the police disciplinary board, which was a judicial or quasi-judicial body whose decisions were immune from suit, but allowed the claimant to pursue his complaint against the decision to bring disciplinary charges and that of the chief constable confirming his dismissal.

The claimant appealed.

JUDGE SEROTA QC held:
A police disciplinary board when undertaking an investigation into complaints was a judicial body whose immunity from suit applied to its decisions as well as to all forms of collateral action. The protection afforded to police officers who might be whistleblowers by the insertion of section 43KA in the Employment Rights Act 1996 did not affect that immunity and did not enable police officers to challenge decisions of the board. But the board's immunity did not remove the claimant's right to challenge the decision to commence disciplinary proceedings and the decision to dismiss him taken by the chief constable on review.

The appeal was dismissed.

Appearances: John Davies QC (Hunt Kidd, Newcastle upon Tyne) for the claimant; Andrew Short (Weightmans) for the police.