seriously? Seriously. Donuts for guns left unattended

By JAMIE PYATT
August 31, 2007

COPS at Gatwick Airport had to buy colleagues doughnuts as a forfeit whenever they left GUNS unattended, a tribunal heard.

One left his sub-machine gun in the canteen and allegedly had to buy the whole team a CAKE — the penalty for more serious rule breaches.

The sliding scale of unofficial “fines” — echoing the antics of doughnut-loving top cop Chief Wiggum in The Simpsons — emerged as a woman firearms officer launched a sex discrimination battle against the force.

WPC Barbara Lynford, 38 — who claims sexist male officers hounded her out of her job — is suing the Sussex force, which is responsible for guarding millions of passengers at Gatwick.

Ex-PC Toby Gough told a Brighton industrial tribunal officers FAKED patrol reports, SLEPT on the job and left guns LYING AROUND.
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He branded the breaks some took as “scandalous” — claiming they spent more time in the canteen than on patrol. Asked why he did not report his colleagues, he said: “I had a mortgage to pay.” WPC Lynford, of Lewes, Sussex, said sexist men on her 18-strong team poked fun at her breasts and littered the station with topless photographs.

They also allegedly dubbed her a “daisy”, a “whoopsy” and a “lipstick”. She was the only female on the firearms team.

The WPC — on full pay since going sick with stress in 2005 — said: “I felt sick every time I went to work and cried every time I got home.” The hearing continues.