A police officer who admitted to knowingly avoiding payment for train fares between Devon and Wiltshire has been sacked for breaches of standards of “honesty and integrity” and “discreditable conduct”.

PC Luke Goddard, who joined the Metropolitan Police in June 2000 and moved to Devon in 2003, has been on long term sick leave following an on-duty injury in 2019.

During a home visit by a supervisor, Sergeant Edwards, in June 2024, the officer was asked whether the cost of travel was a barrier to his full return to duty.

The officer disclosed that he only paid the £34 fare between Axminster in Devon and Salisbury in Wiltshire “around half of the time”.

He legitimately used a concession for Metropolitan Police officers to travel as far as Salisbury.

But the panel found he used his position as a police constable to “circumvent payment” between Wiltshire and Devon – two stations that he was not entitled to travel between without a valid ticket.