A former police officer who was dismissed after a “misuse of his position” in a row over a basketball is now standing as a Reform UK candidate in a council by-election.
Stuart Ball, who is standing in the Mendip by-election | Photo © Stuart Ball
Stuart Ball was dismissed from Avon & Somerset Police in 2019 after a “ridiculous and disproportionate spat” with Sports Direct staff over a basketball which, a misconduct panel heard, culminated in him making criminal allegations against the store’s manager.
Mr Ball insisted he had not been treated fairly and the issue had been “blown out of proportion”.
Now he is hoping to be elected as the first Reform UK councillor on Bath & North East Somerset Council in the by-election for the Mendip ward on 3rd July.
Winning the council seat would make him the local councillor to the former Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg.
Mr Ball told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “The country seems to be disintegrating and I’ve never been one to shy away from things I see as being unfair.
“Reform, I think, have some very very good ideas of ways of tackling the problems we’ve got.”
He said: “Migration is the big one which feeds into everything: NHS delays, housing, the whole gambit. I come with first hand experience. So I believe I’m offering something a little bit different and I’m a strong candidate.”
The former police officer said he had detained an illegal immigrant himself and pursued cases through the courts for European arrest warrants and extradition.
He joined Avon & Somerset Police in 1993, but his time with the force came to an end in 2019 after a misconduct panel decided to dismiss him without notice.
The police misconduct panel heard that his son had found a basketball while the family was shopping in a Sports Direct in August 2018, which staff said was lost property and not for sale.
The panel heard that Mr Ball claimed “finder’s rights”, ordered a shop assistant to the police station, and got into a “heated” exchange with the shop manager who asked him to leave.
The manager took the ball to Wells Police Station the following day and complained about Mr Ball’s behaviour, whereupon Mr Ball accused the manager of theft and threatening violence.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Mr Ball said he had only identified himself as a police officer after the manager had become frustrated to try to calm the situation.
He said: “I felt throughout the whole system that I wasn’t getting a fair hearing and the whole thing had been blown out of proportion.”
He said: “I very much felt that the decision had been made before the hearing had taken place.”
He added: “This is exactly why our young cops are terrified of being proactive and getting themselves in things they can avoid, because every scenario is a potential disciplinary nowadays.”
He said he had considered taking it to an employment tribunal but discovered the tribunal judge also worked for the police and did not think he would get a fair hearing.
In a statement, which refers to Mr Ball only as “PC X”, released in January 2020 after the misconduct panel, chair Derek Marshall said: “This was a ridiculous and disproportionate spat over an item of trivial value.
“PC X’s demonstrable behaviour in the shop was bullying, disrespectful and a wholly disproportionate and inappropriate misuse of his position of authority as a police officer.
“The allegation against PC X is that he dishonestly tried to criminalise people for offences he knew had not been committed in order to excuse his own behaviour — just about the most serious thing an officer of the law can be accused of.
“We find it astonishing that PC X can still say that he does not believe he has done anything wrong. He truly lost his moral compass.”
But Mr Ball told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “It is not me that lost my moral compass.
“It is the system that was operating in such an unfair fashion that tries to bully and control young officers into not behaving according to their moral compass. It suppresses police getting involved in all sorts of scenarios now.”
Mr Ball said that, in retrospect, it was “probably one of the best things that ever happened to me,” as it led to a change in career.
He said: “It’s a very long time ago now: six and a bit years ago. Life has moved on.”
Mr Ball is now an emergency ambulance associate and is a union rep within the ambulance service, who has supported and advised about 70 members of staff with health and discipline cases.
He said: “I have taken a keen interest in using my experiences to help others.”
The Mendip ward stretches from Temple Cloud to East and West Harptree, covering Cameley, Hinton Blewett, Coley, and North and South Widcombe.
It had been held by David Wood, its first Liberal Democrat councillor, since 2019 but he has stepped down on health grounds. The byelection will take place on 3rd July.
The full list of candidates is:
- Stuart Michael Ball (Reform UK)
- Martin Edward Burton (Labour)
- Jon Elford (Conservative)
- Charles Harrison Fenn (Green)
- Simon James McCombe (Liberal Democrat)
You will need to bring photo ID with you to vote.
John Wimperis, Local Democracy Reporter
