AN ANGRY Gwent Police officer allegedly shunted into another driver's Mercedes in a road rage row at the M4 Prince of Wales Bridge toll booth, a misconduct hearing was told today (Monday).

PC Dean Harris, 47, is accused of grabbing and hitting the Mercedes' wing mirror while hanging out of his car window on a busy motorway.

He was off-duty at the time of the alleged incident.

The hearing was told PC Harris accused the other driver of hitting his wing mirror as he drove through tolls on the Second Severn Crossing on November 9, 2018.

PC Harris, based in Blackwood, faces allegations of gross misconduct at the hearing in Cwmbran.

He denies five allegations of breaching the force's Standards of Professional Behaviour.

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The Mercedes driver – named only as Mr W – said he heard a "bang" before he saw PC Harris pull alongside him and, swearing, accuse him of smashing his mirror.

Jonathan Waters, representing the force, said PC Harris was "incensed" by the alleged collision and leaned out of his window to grab the driver's mirror.

Mr Waters said: "PC Harris attempted to damage the mirror by hitting it with his open hand and pushing it as far as it could go."

He said the officer then started to flash his lights and swerve from right to left.

The Mercedes driver then felt PC Harris "shunting" the back of his vehicle – but could not reach the hard shoulder and escape.

The driver then called the police on his way home to report the incident – not realising PC Harris was an off-duty officer.

Giving evidence, the driver said there were "three or four distinct lanes" of traffic as he drove through the tolls into Wales on the M4.

He had let one driver into his lane but saw a red Vauxhall, driven by PC Harris, on his passenger side.

The driver said PC Harris was grabbing his mirror, rocking and hitting it, and swearing at him.

"The man was so angry – he was trying to damage my car, and I moved forward so he couldn't do any more damage," the driver said, adding that he felt an impact and heard "a slight thud" as PC Harris was behind him.

The driver said: "It was going through my mind that he was doing his best to inflict damage to my car."

The hearing was told PC Harris – who was driving his parents home from holiday – then got out of his car to confront the driver.

The driver added that he drove away as he was "quite fearful".

The hearing, due to last four days, continues.