AN injured pedestrian has complained that she was ticked off by a police officer for using the word “fat” to describe a hit-and-run motorist.

Mary Magilton, 54, said she was simply trying to give the officer an accurate description of the female driver whose car mounted the pavement and hit her at a busy road junction.

Instead of the officer taking a note of her description, he paused and told her she could not use such language to describe an alleged offender.

Mrs Magilton said: “I think this is totally silly. It is political correctness gone overboard.

“They did not even get me to sign a statement. They treated me with such disdain. How can they ever find a criminal if they cannot take a description?”

Mrs Magilton said that the car hit her in the back and side. She limped home but later the pain became acute and her husband took her to hospital.

One of the medical staff urged her to report the incident to police and, three days later, she spoke to the officer at her local police station in Oldham, Greater Manchester.

She described the driver as having brown, shoulder-length hair and glasses. “They said, ‘what build was she?’ and I replied ‘fat’.

“I never thought about it. That is when they turned funny on me and told me I could not make such remarks.”

Five years ago the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester was criticised by his own officers when they were issued with a guide entitled Power of Language.

They were told they could not refer to the elderly affectionately as old dears or old codgers. God-botherer and Bible-basher were also outlawed. Anyone from an ethnic background had to be referred to as non-white and terms such as policeman and spokesman were described as sexist.

However, it advised: “When taking a witness statement from a member of the public be aware of the evidential need to record the witness’s exact words. Use speech marks to show the words used by the witness, especially those giving descriptive information. Doing this will ensure the statement is recorded in the witness’s own words.”

Mrs Magilton said: “I do not know any other words to describe a fat person. I looked it up in the dictionary and the alternatives are lardy, porky, podgy and other words I would not dare to use.” The non-thin motorist has yet to be traced.

A spokeswoman for Greater Manchester Police said: “GMP has a policy on appropriate language aimed at helping police officers and police staff to be professional and correct when dealing with the public . . . it covers issues relating to race, disability, gender, religion, sexuality and age and includes operational guidance and information on where to seek advice.

“The policy, which is regularly reviewed and updated, is aimed at ensuring that honest mistakes through lack of knowledge or insensitivity can be corrected. GMP values diversity and respects individual differences.”

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