PUDDLEGATE

Raging police chief ‘blames officers after floods make his son late for his first day of high school’

A CHIEF constable furious after flooding made his son late for school humiliated senior officers in an incident dubbed ‘Puddlegate’, a hearing was told yesterday.

Simon Byrne, 55, demanded to know why the flood had not been declared a major incident – despite just six weather-related calls to the force that morning, it was alleged.

Then, after calling a meeting over the Cheshire force’s response, his staff officer claimed he left her in fear as he shook with rage and went ‘bright red in the face’.

Inspector Kate Buckingham said in a statement: ‘I felt fearful and intimidated by his demeanour. I considered the chief constable to be out of control and had never witnessed such an outburst of rage from a colleague.’

Mr Byrne was later suspended and accused of gross Accused: Simon Byrne misconduct after allegedly being a ‘volatile’ and ‘unpredictable’ bully who frequently berated junior staff.

He would regularly fail to attend early-morning appointments, once because his son had a ‘bad dream’, a disciplinary panel in Warrington was told. It also heard claims that he wasted hundreds of pounds by missing booked trains to conferences.

The alleged Puddlegate incident erupted after flooding near the police chief’s home in September 2015 delayed his arrival at work.

He rang Insp Buckingham at about 8am asking why the force had not declared a major incident, it was claimed.

She was ‘ astounded to hear such an overreaction’.

The inspector added: ‘ He continued to shout that his son was going to be late for his first day at high school and this was solely down to the force’s inability to clear the floods.’

Mr Byrne called in eight senior officers that afternoon and asked Insp Buckingham to print off pictures of characters in Dad’s Army, she said.

‘He presented each of the officers with the pictures,’ she said in a statement made public yesterday. Insp Buckingham said she believed his intention was to humiliate the officers. While the exact motive was not stated, the aim was apparently to link their alleged failures with the bungling Home Guard in the classic TV series.

It was also alleged Mr Byrne ‘rudely berated’ IT staff over his police-issue iPad not working properly only for suspicions to be raised that his children had been using it.

A witness also claimed he had intervened in an arrest after a raid on a crack house ‘clearly to boost his image and ego’.

The hearing was told the police chief is also said to have asked an off-duty staff officer to investigate traffic problems as he was returning from a family trip to Yorkshire.

His PA was also said to have been bombarded with so many calls that she could not leave to get a drink or go to the toilet.

Mr Byrne faces 74 charges alleging gross misconduct between 2014 and 2017 in a hearing brought by Cheshire police and crime commissioner David Keane. If they are upheld he could be sacked.

Mr Byrne rejects the allegations, in some cases denying the incidents happened and in others saying they did not amount to misconduct.

He denies his response to the floods was to do with his son and he was only ‘flagging’ the issue. The hearing continues.