Drink-driving executive headteacher avoids ban from teaching because it would be “loss to profession”
Hampshire teacher avoids ban from profession
A drink-driving executive headteacher has avoided being banned from teaching because it would be a “loss to the profession”, a misconduct panel concluded.
Jeremy Payne, who had the high ranking role at Federation of Fryern Infant and Junior Schools in Chandler’s Ford, was convicted at Poole Magistrates’ Court in July 2024 for drink-driving on his way home from the pub on 25 April 2024.
He was banned from driving for 12 months and ordered to pay a fine of £440, a victim surcharge of £176 and costs of £85.
The teacher misconduct hearing was told Mr Payne was at school until approximately 7.25pm having attended a school disco event. “On his way home from the school, Mr Payne attended the Gateway pub in Eastleigh and consumed alcohol. At around 8.10pm Mr Payne left the pub to drive home. At around 8.40pm he was pulled over by the police and breathalysed but failed the test,” the panel heard. He gave a reading of 49mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath against a legal limit of 35mg.
The panel heard Mr Payne was employed by the Federation of Fryern Infant and Junior Schools from 1 January 2024 to 11 December 2024 as the executive headteacher. He was subsequently suspended by the school before being dismissed on 11 December 2024. On 19 December 2024 a referral was made to the Teacher Regulation Authority by the school’s board of governors.
The panel noted that Mr Payne’s actions were not relevant to teaching and did not involve children. But they found he was in breach of standards in which “teachers uphold public trust in the profession and maintain high standards of ethics and behaviour, within and outside school, by not undermining fundamental British values, including the rule of law”.
Stuart Blomfield said in the misconduct panel verdict: “I have placed weight on the contribution that Mr Payne has made to the profession, and in particular, the panel’s comment that ‘there was substantial evidence before the panel that Mr Payne made significant contributions to education and that it would be a loss to the profession if he were prohibited from returning to teaching’.
“For these reasons, I have concluded that a prohibition order is not proportionate or in the public interest. I consider that the publication of the findings made would be sufficient to send an appropriate message to the teacher as to the standards of behaviour that were not acceptable and that the publication would meet the public interest requirement of declaring proper standards of the profession.”