Lewis Johnson

Lewis Dean JOHNSON - determination on 22.05.25 

This has  been  an  inquest  on behalf of Our Sovereign  Lord  The King  by  me, 
Mary Elizabeth Hassell, Senior Coroner for Inner North London, touching the 
death  of  Lewis  Dean  Johnson  who  died  on  9  February  2016  at  Clapton 
Common  A107  in  London.    The  jury  has  made  a  narrative  determination  as 
follows. 

“Lewis Dean Johnson died on 9 February 2016 following a road traffic collision 
with a traffic light pole at approximately midday at Clapton Common A107, near 
the junction with Castlewood Road in London.  Mr Johnson’s medical cause of 
death was blunt abdominal trauma with aortic rupture. 

On  the  morning  of  9  February  2016,  Mr  Johnson  was  driving  a  300cc 
motorcycle and carrying a pillion passenger.  Both individuals were engaged in 
snatching mobile phones from members of the public.  This activity resulted in 
Mr Johnson and his pillion passenger being pursued by the Metropolitan Police 
Service (MPS) for over three minutes prior to the road traffic collision. 

Mr Johnson’s manner of driving during the pursuit included travelling in excess 
of speed limits, driving on the wrong side of the road, passing vehicles on the 
nearside, and driving on the pavement.  The manner of Mr Johnson’s driving 
was influenced by the fact that he was being pursued by the police in a high 
speed pursuit that involved the pursuing police vehicle following too closely at 
times,  a  factor  that  placed  additional  pressure  on  Mr  Johnson  affecting  his 
decision making. 

Opportunities to reduce risk to Mr Johnson and the public by the driver of the 
pursuing  vehicle  were  missed.    In  particular,  the  pursuing  police  driver 
continued to drive too close to the motorbike, at times, following a point in the 
pursuit  where  the  motorbike  mounted  the  pavement  forcing  a  pedestrian  to 
move out of the way. 

The presence of the pursuing police car also caused other road users to pull to 
the  side  of  the  road  to  assist  the  movement  of  the  police  car  through  traffic.  
One of these road users was the driver of a white box van at Clapton Common, 
which caused Mr Johnson to lose control of the motorbike before he collided 
with the road traffic light pole. 

Mr Johnson’s failure to stop was motivated by a desire to avoid arrest whilst in 
possession of stolen goods. 

The driver of the pursuing police vehicle did not have the qualification (IP code) 
required  by  MPS  policy  at  the  time  to  engage  in  the  pursuit  of  motorbikes.  
Nonetheless, a pursuit took place because of a lack of knowledge amongst the 
police driver, the vehicle operator and MPS control room staff of policy relating 
to  pursuit  of  motorcycles,  and  a  lack  of  adequate  communication  of  these 
policies.  As such, appropriate termination based on the policy requirement for 
an  IP  code  did  not  occur.    This  failure  was  due  in  part  to  the  MPS  failing  to 
implement, disseminate and train relevant staff on relevant policies effectively.”

Web. www.met.police.uk  

Deputy Assistant Commissioner 
New Scotland Yard 
Victoria Embankment 
London 
SW1A 2JL 

Email. 

NSN. 

Our Ref: IX/78/16 

Ms Mary Hassell  
HM Senior Coroner  
Inner North London    
St Pancras Coroner’s Court  
London  
N1C 4PP 

Correspondence by email 

                                                                                     18th July 2025 

Dear Ms Hassell, 

Prevention of future deaths - Lewis Dean Johnson 

I would like to start by expressing my sincere condolences to the family and friends of Lewis 
Dean Johnson. Our thoughts and sympathies are very much with them. 

On behalf of the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, I write to provide the response to 
the matters of concern addressed to the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) in your Report to 
Prevent Future Deaths dated 23rd May 2025 following the inquest into the tragic death of Mr 
Lewis Dean Johnson. 

The  MPS  has  acknowledged  and  reviewed  all  the  matters  of  concern  raised  in  your 
Regulation 28 Report and responds as follows: 

The Coroner’s “Matters of Concern” 

1.  You  will  see  from  the attached  narrative that  the  jury  concluded  there  was  a  failure  by 
MPS to implement, disseminate and train relevant staff on relevant policies effectively.  

2.  Although the jury did not comment on this specifically, it seemed to me from the evidence 
in court that there was not a consistent expectation among police officers of how long it 
generally takes a police controller to make a decision on authorisation of a pursuit.    

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 Whilst I do not suggest there should be a time limit on this, it would seem helpful if the 
expectation  of  the  timing  of  police  control  decision  making  were  to  be  roughly  aligned 
between those making the decisions (in the police control room) and those waiting for the 
decisions (in police cars involved in the pursuits). 

MPS Response to “Matter of Concern 1” 

Police Driving Policy Ownership 

The MPS Driving Policy is owned by the Roads and Transport Policing Command (RTPC) 
and incorporates the College of Policing’s Authorised Professional Practice (APP) guidance. 
Any updates to driving related policies are managed and disseminated by the Police Driving 
Standards and Policy Unit (PDSU) that sits within RTPC.  

The MPS has approximately 10,000 authorised police drivers/riders ranging from Basic to 
Tactical Pursuit and Containment (TPaC) trained who are managed by the PDSU with the 
support of a Safer Driver Manager (SDM) network. Every Operational Command Unit (OCU) 
and Basic Command Unit (BCU) in the MPS has a SDM who is a senior officer of at least the 
rank of Inspector and are responsible for the police drivers within their command. A SDM 
may appoint a nominated officer to manage the day-to-day responsibilities of the SDM. 

Process in 2016 

In 2016, the MPS’s standard practice was to update police officers and staff of policy related 
changes/requirement via an ‘Operational Notice’. This consisted of a ‘news’ item posted to 
the MPS wide intranet home page highlighting the change to relevant policy, who it affects, 
and  the  actions  required  by  each  officer.  The  policy  to  pursue  motorbikes/mopeds  was 
changed nine days prior to this incident in 2016, during a pandemic of moped enabled phone 
robberies across London.   

Current Process 

Since this incident in 2016, the RTPC PDSU has reviewed the way critical policy updates are 
disseminated with the aim of reducing the risk of policy updates being missed. As such, the 
RTPC PDSU continues to publish Operational Notices on the MPS intranet, which is then 
reinforced with the update being disseminated throughout the Safer Driver Manager (SDM) 
network. The SDM’s will then share these updates with the drivers in their command by email 
requesting an acknowledgement response. 

The MPS has provided updated training packages to staff within the Metropolitan Police’s 
Command and Control Command (MetCC), whose responsibility includes the management 
of  the  Pan  London  MPS  Pursuit  radio  channel.  Changes  to  training  have  been  made  to 
enable faster recognition and termination of pursuits, where appropriate. Specifically, within 
the Supervisor of Incident (SI) role (within the control room), the direction is that the SI will 
take  control  of  the  channel  directly  to  terminate  pursuits  if  deemed  necessary,  whereas 
previously  the  direction  to  terminate  was  given  to  the  channel  operator  with  supporting 
rationale. The channel operator would then direct the pursuit to terminate. 

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 Likewise, Pursuit Tactical Advisors (TacAd) situated inside the pan London control room are 
being  directed  to  take  control  of  the  channel  where  appropriate  to  ensure  essential 
information is provided at the earliest opportunity. Furthermore, the TacAd supervisor role is 
part of the PDSU and is located within MetCC alongside the MPS Pursuit desk, ensuring a 
continual, real-time line of communication and updates surrounding the policy. 

Timelines for Dissemination 

Whilst at times, the decision to change policy is held within the MPS, which allows for prior 
planning for the education of policy updates, this is not always the case. The MPS, as with 
other  police  forces,  are  guided  by  APP.  At  times,  these  updates  can  be  dynamic  due  to 
learning  within  other  forces  and  as  such  there  can  be  a  delay  in  communication  to  MPS 
officers and staff in order to determine the best manner to educate or train them. Where the 
MPS has guided an internal policy change, or the College of Policing has provided a timeline 
of APP updates, the PDSU will disseminate this information within 24 hours of being notified. 
Where further  work  is  required  to  update  officers  and  staff of  the  changes,  the  PDSU  will 
assess the risk and ensure that timelines for implementation are proportionate to that risk. 

MPS Driver Standards Improvement Plan 

To  address  identified  risks  associated  with  serious  and  /  or  fatal  police  driving  incidents  / 
collisions, a Police Driver Improvement Plan was created in 2024. The plan sets out how the 
MPS  intends  to  reduce  police  collisions,  utilising  driver  training,  enhanced  data  and 
governance  frameworks  to  manage  risk,  progress  milestones  and  hold  key  partners  to 
account.  

The plan will be achieved through the Driver Training and Standards governance framework, 
that is chaired by the Commander of Uniformed Operations, and led through a collaborative 
approach  between  RTPC,  MetCC,  Learning  &  Development,  Met  Prosecutions,  Fleet 
Services, Directorate of Professional Standards, and the Directorate of Legal Services.  

The  project  began  in  April  2025  with  a  wholesale  review  the  existing  MPS  driving  Policy, 
taking every opportunity to align to national APP standards.  

The plan will be delivered across 2025/26 which covers four key pillars: 

•  Standards and Governance  
•  Culture and Development  
•  Technology, Data and Insight  
•  Collaboration  

In addition to the current process, as part of the Police Driver Standards Improvement Plan, 
the RTPC PDSU has numerous ongoing digital driving and system projects in production, 
specifically the MPS is scoping the introduction of a Digital Driving Permit (the initial phase 
due for completion by the end of July 2025, Digital Logbooks, a Chronical Systems Project,  

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 in  car  dash  cams  technology  /  solutions  and  ongoing  collaboration  work  with  the  MPS 
Strategic Insights Unit. 

The  aim of the  Digital Driving  Permit  is  to  significantly  improve the  management  of police 
drivers, as this will enable the driver’s permit to be ‘locked’ where necessary, by the PDSU 
preventing them from booking out a police vehicle and driving it. This same process will be 
utilised  for  future  driving  policy  updates  whereby  a  notification  can  be  sent  to  the  drivers 
permit, which will need to be acknowledged before the driver has the ability to book out a 
vehicle.  This will provide a digital record confirming that the driver has received a notification 
of a change of policy, which is in addition to notification via MPS notices and disseminations 
via SDM network.     

The Chronicle is the MPS Collision reporting system for police drivers. This will be able to 
distinguish  between  police  driver  collision  types,  and  specifics  surrounding  what  type  of 
hazard has been engaged, thus allowing junctions and hazards to be reported on. There is 
also now a pin drop function that will provide accurate location data which has been facilitated 
by DDaT. This is estimated to be completed in the second quarter of 2025.  

The PDSU are in the early stages of exploring in-car dash cam solutions for the MPS fleet.  
This solution will allow Pursuit Managers (SI’s) situated in MetCC to view pursuits.  

MPS Strategic Insights Unit (SIU)   

RTPC  PDSU  are  working  closely  with  the  MPS  Strategic  Insight  Unit  (SIU)  to  provide  an 
overview and gain a deeper understanding of the dangers associated with potential high risk 
driving  behaviours,  and  how  these  can  be  reduced/mitigated  as  part  of  the  Police  Driver 
Improvement Plan. In addition, work is ongoing as to whether the SIU could utilise data that 
is  already  held,  specifically  around  whether  any  increase  in  serious  injury  or  police  fatal 
collisions are significant in terms of demand.  

MPS Response to “Matter of Concern 2” 

Police Controllers and Authorisation of a Pursuit  

The Pan London Training Course was delivered by L&D up until 2018, when the responsibility 
of training staff with this skill was passed to MetCC. MetCC has its own Academy, responsible 
for delivering training in First Contact (FC), answering 999 and 101 calls, and Despatch. They 
are also responsible for training control room staff, responding and co-ordinating with officers 
working on the Basic Command Unit’s radio communication.  

There is also another dedicated team within the Academy who are responsible for delivering 
all Pan London training. To be permitted to undertake the Pan London course, staff must be 
competent in the FC and Despatch arenas and be recommended by their supervisors. This 
is the same for operators who are at the rank of Police Constable or Police Staff equivalent 
grading and supervisors who are the rank of Sergeant or Police Staff equivalent grading. 

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 Since  MetCC  have  taken  ownership  of  the  Pan  London  training,  the  course  has  been 
changed from four weeks to three weeks. The first two weeks teaches staff how to work in 
all areas of Pan London, with the third week being dedicated to pursuit management within 
the control room - the Pan London Training Team (PLTT). The staff are given an electronic 
copy of the MPS Pursuit Policy with their joining instructions prior to the course.  

On the first day of pursuit week, staff are given a 20-question knowledge check to test where 
their knowledge is, which helps to identify any significant areas of development they need to 
focus on. The rest of the first day is solely focussed on explaining the MPS Pursuit Policy, 
which is supported by a power point presentation to aid learning.  

The following three days engages staff in practical, immersive pursuit training.  

It was identified that officers who were not a minimum classification of a Response driver, 
received  very  limited  training  on  pursuit  commentary. In  response,  the  PLTT  therefore 
introduced a Pursuit Commentary course to the MPS, available for all officers to attend. This 
was  done  in  conjunction  with  the  Pursuit  Tactical  Advisor  Sergeant  and  the  MPS  Driving 
School.  

On the second day of pursuit week, Pan London operators and officers have a 60-minute 
presentation with supporting power point of what is required of them during a pursuit in line 
with  the  CoP. There  is  a  visual  display of  all  the  necessary  pursuit  criteria  in  the  National 
Decision Model (NDM) needed for a pursuit to be authorised. The presentation refers to the 
Pursuit Commentary Bullet Point Checklist below: 

Introduce the call and wait. 
Inform MP what you are pursing (Car/Bike/Van), where you are and direction? 

• 
• 
•  What is the Police Driver classification/IPP/Re-enforced stop? 
•  Which type of Police vehicle and is it marked or unmarked? 
•  Why are you pursuing (what is the offence?) 
•  What is the speed, road/weather/traffic conditions/pedestrians? 
•  What is the drivers risk assessment low/medium/high? 

The presentation further details what officer’s transmissions would look like in practice. It then 
refers  to  ‘Painting  the  Picture,’  where  officers  are  provided  with  some  examples  of  key 
phrases  they  may  wish  to  use  to  assist  with  commentary. The  presentation  includes 
articulating essential information that is needed, a table of risks with examples, pre-emptive 
tactics and a list of the units that should routinely be monitoring the PMPS Intop Channels.  

The following is a description about how the training is delivered to operators and supervisors: 

The  operators  assume  their  role  as  the  MetCC  pursuit  operator,  whilst  the  officers  watch 
pursuit  footage  taken  from  a  Police  vehicle  and  give  commentary  to  the  Pan  London 
trainees. Both the Pan London students and officers have training staff with them to provide 
guidance on how pursuits should be managed. This collective approach to training ensures  

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 that the officers and Pan London staff each know what questions and in what order they are 
going to be given and allow the pursuit criteria information to be given in a timely manner. 

The course is run in a similar way for the Pan London supervisors, but the supervisors will 
perform  their  role  and  make  decisions  on  whether  to  authorise  or  terminate  the  pursuits, 
based on the information they are given. 

On the final day of the course, both supervisors and operators will take a 20-question written 
exam.  If  they  have  been  unsuccessful,  an  opportunity  to  retake  the  exam  is  afforded. On 
successfully passing the exam students will then take a practical exam where they undertake 
their trained role, whether supervisor or operator, and take part in an assessment similar to 
the practical training described earlier. This is assessed by the PLTT, with stringent criteria. 
The Pan London supervisors will listen as they would in a live pursuit and give their directions 
authorising / terminating accordingly to operators. Students will need to show they have an 
excellent  knowledge  of  the  Pursuit  Policy  to  be  able  to  be  successful.   If  a  pass  is  not 
achieved on this occasion, then staff would not be permitted to work within the Pan London 
arena and be given an action plan to return at a later date to re-take the course. 

We cannot align a time limit as to how quickly this information is obtained, as each pursuit is 
different in what the pursuing vehicle is presented with. However, with both MetCC staff and 
pursuing officers knowing what questions are going to be asked and in what order, it allows 
the  answers  to  be  promptly  given  and  allows  the  SI  to  make  decisions  in  a  timelier 
manner. Although each pursuit would need to be reviewed on its own merits, on a case-by-
case basis, the aim is to authorise a pursuit as soon as practicable once relevant information 
has been obtained. 

I hope this response shows the level of transformative change the MPS has undertaken in 
the time since this tragic incident that gave rise to your matters of concern. 
Please  do  not  hesitate  to  contact  me  should  you  require  any  additional  information  or 
clarification regarding the above. 

Yours sincerely,  

Deputy Assistant Commissioner 
Metropolitan Police Service 
Professionalism 

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