A police officer has been sacked after being found four times over the drink drive limit while on duty in her marked police car.

PC Lauren Payne, 26, had an ‘almost empty’ bottle of gin in her car when she was arrested, a police misconduct hearing was told. She was in full uniform and stunk of alcohol when her colleagues from Hampshire Constabulary discovered her in her parked car at a service station.

Chief Constable of Hampshire Constabulary, Scott Chilton, said the consequences of her actions ‘could have been catastrophic’. It was only ‘luck’ that no member of the public was harmed, the misconduct hearing was told.

PC Payne, who is an alcoholic, was found guilty of gross misconduct and dismissed following the Hampshire Constabulary misconduct hearing in Eastleigh. She was placed on the College of Policing’s Barred List for five years and has also been warned by a judge to be prepared to go to prison.

PC Payne worked as a police staff investigator from May 2020 until March 2024, when she became a student police constable. She was signed off as independent on November 8 2024, meaning that she could work alone.

PC Claire Chivers, who investigated the incident, told the hearing that on January 17 2025, ‘inaudible communications’ were heard from PC Payne’s radio. Colleagues went to Popham Services, Hants, where she was in the driver’s seat of a police car at 4.30pm. Her shift was about to end at 5pm and she’d been working since 7am.

PC Chivers said police initially thought she had had a ‘medical episode’, namely a ‘panic attack’, but then ‘smelt alcohol on PC Payne’. When she was breathalysed, she had 137 micrograms of alcohol per 100 milliliters of breath – almost four times the drink drive limit of 35 micrograms.

She was arrested while on duty. PC Chivers said that PC Payne, who ‘suffers with alcoholism’, was ‘on duty, wearing full uniform, driving a marked vehicle while heavily intoxicated’. PC Payne gave a no comment interview after the incident.

She resigned on February 3 2025, and the next day she pleaded guilty at Reading Magistrates Court, Berks, to driving whilst unfit through drink. PC Payne will be sentenced on April 1, and in the meantime she will be on a residential rehab course which she ‘arranged of her own volition’.

The judge at Reading Magistrates Court told her to be prepared for a custodial sentence. PC Chivers said: “This offence was committed whilst on duty and in uniform. No harm was caused – this could be considered as luck given the level of intoxication whilst driving.” She added that an ‘almost empty’ 700ml bottle of gin was found in the police car when PC Payne was arrested, creating a ‘massive risk not only to herself but to the public’.

PC Chivers noted that support was available for PC Payne, who ‘suffers with alcoholism’. A sergeant in the force was made aware of this by a third party, and consequently PC Payne herself told her superior. An occupational health referral had been made, but PC Payne had been ‘working to a good standard’ before this incident.

She told the hearing in a statement: “I only wish I had understood what I was going through and seeked [sic] help sooner.” PC Payne, who has been diagnosed with acute stress disorder, said she was proud to put on her police uniform every day and called the incident a ‘crisis situation’.

She said: “For what it’s worth, my job was the only thing I could stay sober for. There was a build up of traumatic events the week prior.” PC Payne added she ‘didn’t reach out during [her] time of need until it was too late’.

CC Chilton said: “The consequences of the officer’s actions could have been catastrophic, and the police are here to uphold the law not break it.” He noted that PC Payne was offered ‘support for her condition’, and ‘ultimately she’s responsible for what occurred on that day’.

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