HAMPSHIRE’S police and crime commissioner says he is “pleased” that allegations he fraudulently claimed expenses have been struck out.

An unnamed county resident had alleged that Simon Hayes had over-claimed for ferry journeys to the Isle of Wight, but an independent panel has said he has no case to answer.

The man had complained to the police and crime panel about five journeys made by Mr Hayes in 2013, and the related expenses claims.

In his complaint he claimed: “The expenses of the Hampshire PCC show serious discrepancies that may amount to egregious claims of at least £100.

“Excluding the duplicate claim, which might be explained oversight, the evidence suggests that the PCC regularly over claims for his ferry journeys to the Isle of Wight.

“A comparison of the PCC’s two expenses forms shows that he has chosen to charge the public purse with expensive vehicle ferry tickets when he apparently had no need of a car and, more seriously, that he has possibly defrauded the public by claiming for both parking expenses and vehicle ferry tickets.”

The panel’s complaints sub-committee met to consider the complaint and Mr Hayes provided explanations of his expense claims for each journey.

It found that on two occasions Mr Hayes was travelling in a vehicle that was not his own, and that other expense claims were incorrectly recorded as vehicle ferry tickets due to an administrative error. They ruled that there was “no evidence to support the suggestion that you’ve [Mr Hayes] made any fraudulent claims”.

The panel did make some recommendations to “avoid future complaints related to this issue”, including carrying out a review of all additional expenses documents to ensure information was correct and that accounting is simplified so that the PCC’s expenses and “additional expenses” are combined into one account.

In their ruling, the panel said: “For the reasons stated above, the complaints sub-committee has decided to close the complaint without any further action being taken, other than this letter of explanation and the above recommendations, on the grounds that the complaints sub-committee is satisfied that the complaint has been resolved.”

Following the panel’s ruling, Mr Hayes said: “I’m pleased that following the investigation, the public can be reassured that I haven’t made any fraudulent claims.

“My office has also committed to making the system to handle expenses even more transparent”