Colour-blind PC wins case for sex discrimination

Following is a story run by The Independent in 2000

Colour-blind PC wins case for sex discrimination
Robert Verkaik Legal Affairs Correspondent

A COLOUR-BLIND policeman has won his case for sex discrimination after he was confined to desk duty because senior officers feared he might be a liability in court.
Police Constable Robert Webster, who cannot distinguish between shades of green, was told by Hertfordshire Constabulary that his disability meant he might have problems identifying people and cars. But a London employment tribunal has ruled that because men are 14 times more likely to be colour- blind than women, the force was guilty of indirect sex discrimination.

Lawyers representing Mr Webster told the tribunal that for 10 years he had worked as an operational police officer, giving evidence in court, without a single complaint about his colour-blindness.

An expert on eye defects told the tribunal police guidelines on colour- blindness were "more severe" than those for doctors or airline pilots. Law-yers said the ruling had implications for all colour-blind men who were restricted in their jobs because of an inability to distinguish between colours.

Seven per cent of men are colour-blind compared with 0.5 per cent of females. Mr Webster, 33, said yesterday the decision to remove him from operational duties had come as a "terrible shock". Before applying to join the police, he had called all the forces to find out whether they accepted colour-blind applicants. He found that a number would, including Hertfordshire. In 1988 he had a medical and was accepted by Hertfordshire Constabulary.

But last year he was selected for an advanced driving course and failed medical tests because of his condition. The doctor conducting the tests informed his superiors that his colour-blindness presented an "evidential problem which could affect his credibility in court". Mr Webster was asked to take up a desk job. He was told that, under Association of Chief Police Officers' (Acpo) guidelines, he should not have been appointed as a constable.

An internal report said there was a risk his evidence in respect of colours would always be "suspect, even if in practice he is usually correct". A report to the tribunal by Professor Geoffrey Arden, an expert in colour-blindness at the City University, disagreed with the police, saying Mr Webster's "visual performance" was "adequate for police work".

Ruling in Mr Webster's favour, the tribunal said the risk to his credibility as a witness was remote. It added: "This case comes down to Mr Webster's ability to distinguish between different shades of green."

Hertfordshire Constabulary said yesterday that while it sympathised with Mr Webster, his original employment had been an "exception to the rule" on colour-blindness. "[We] will be consulting the Acpo about the way forward."

The tribunal will decide next month whether to award Mr Webster compensation and may recommend that he be returned to operational duties.

Paul O'Brien, secretary of the joint central committee of the Police Federation, which supported Mr Webster, said the decision would have "major implications for thousands of serving, and aspiring, police officers, who will be afforded some protection".

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