A Metropolitan Police officer has tried to sue the force for discrimination after being denied the right to work from home - after moving house three hours away from his base.
An employment tribunal heard that PC Paul Heard moved from South London to Suffolk, leading to a six-hour daily round trip commute using public transport to his Met Police base in Croydon.
PC Heard complained that the journey was "exhausting", claiming the long commute was "fatiguing" and impacting his physical and mental health.
Despite his role requiring him to provide policing services within the Croydon community, PC Heard formally requested to work remotely, but the Met refused his demands, saying he could not effectively conduct his duties in the community from such a distance.
PC Heard then brought a case against the force at the London South Employment Tribunal, suing them for disability discrimination and indirect disability discrimination.
However, the tribunal ruled against the officer, who remains a serving member of the force.
PC Heard began working as an officer with the Met, and was primarily stationed in Croydon in 2017. His duties included liaising with local organisations, and required him to be in the area.
The tribunal heard that by September 2018, he had moved to Suffolk, and was initially able to manage his commute and discharge his functions effectively.
Some working from home was allowed in 2019, and became more common during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In June 2021, a "blended" framework came into place, allowing officers to work from home while also spending time out in the community but also need to spend focused time within a Met Building.
Around the same time, PC Heard began experiencing health problems, particularly breathlessness.
He began working "compressed" hours, working four days of 10 hours each instead of five days of eight hours, citing the long commute in his reasoning.
In June 2022 he was diagnosed with hypothyroidism, with his doctor noting he had been "managing symptoms of high blood pressure, tiredness, depression and memory problems for some months".
PC Heard went on sick leave until November 2022, describing himself as "tired and spending a lot of time sleeping".
A phased return to work was scheduled for the autumn, allowing PC Heard to work exclusively from home.
He completed a psychological assessment in May 2023 and reported that his commute was compromising his physical and mental wellbeing.
However, his request to continue working from home was denied by the Met, which said: "We currently have no roles available that would allow working from home to the extent required and no public contact.
"The PO role is an operational public facing role. The adjustments would result in additional work being placed upon other officers on the teams and would impact how we could effectively deliver our operational priorities."
PC Heard was later offered a job in Stratford, one hour's commute away, but he failed to go into work and filed a grievance against the Met.
On his return in January 2024, he would often not turn up to the police building because he was "symptomatic and instead worked from home".
The grievance was informally resolved when he started coming in to work, but in July 2024 he went off sick for a month.
Pc Heard was told that a phased return to work could begin in January 2025, and that a team could be moved closer to his home to make things easier.
A new hybrid working policy came into place and the officer applied to work from home again but was rejected.
At the tribunal, it was claimed on his behalf: "[PC Heard] relies on a difficulty in undertaking long commutes on public transport.
"It is [his] position that the specific long commute in question is approximately three hours each way and is difficult because it is fatiguing, stressful, and anxiety-inducing, and therefore impacts his physical and mental health."
Dismissing his claims, Employment Judge Nicholas Cox said the Met has already made adjustments to be "flexible" for him.
The judge said: “I consider it to be an essential element of the work of an operational police officer working on the duty to attend a [Met Police] location... for at least some duty work.”
