Met Police officer sacked after moonlighting as Uber driver
PC Muhammed Darr was caught after attempting to use a fake licence to join the taxi firm
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A Metropolitan Police officer has been sacked after moonlighting as an Uber driver and applying for a licence with fraudulent documents.
PC Muhammed Darr was still on probation as a new officer when he was arrested in November 2019 on suspicion of fraud.
Bosses at Scotland Yard were not aware that Darr had a second job as a private hire driver, a misconduct panel was told.
Darr was found guilty of gross misconduct for submitting fraudulent documents to Uber and lying about his role as a police officer. He was also found guilty of misconduct for hiding his second job with Uber from the Met.
During the criminal investigation against him, Darr attempted to hide the fact he was a serving officer and instead claimed he was self-employed.
The panel dismissed him without notice.
“He is a police officer and common sense would have told him that any apparent offer by a third party found on Gumtree to cut corners in the application process would be suspicious”, the panel ruled.
“There was a deliberate decision by PC Darr to conceal the fact he was a police officer in that investigation”, the ruling continued. “This is all too obvious from his first interview when asked to explain the caution back to the interviewing officer where he says he knows the caution from watching TV.
“He had also described his occupation to the police as self-employed. We find that this was a deliberate decision by PC Darr to mislead the investigating officer and attempt to hide the fact he was a serving police officer.”
Darr first came under suspicion after submitting a faked Transport for London private hire licence as well as counterfeit insurance documents to Uber when applying for a renewal of his operating licence.
In a police interview, Darr claimed he paid £100 for the documents to a man he met on Gumtree, and insisted he only found out they were fake when concerns were raised by Uber. Darr was cleared of fraud after a criminal trial at Snaresbrook crown court, however, the police misconduct panel decided he knew the documents were bogus when he submitted them.
“There is a clear policy requiring a police officer to notify his employer of any proposed business interest”, said the panel.
“In his failure to inform his employer of his self-employment as a taxi driver, he has breached the professional standards of honesty and integrity and duties and responsibilities.”
Darr handed in his resignation on the first day of the misconduct hearing, but he was still dismissed without notice by the force.