A magistrate who referred to a colleague as a ‘trolley dolly’ has been issued with a formal warning for misconduct.
Michael Barnes was alleged to have used the term in reference to her cabin crew career and made ‘sarcastic’ comments which undermined her distance-learning law degree.
Barnes admitted he had called the colleague a ‘trolley dolly’ in a ‘light-hearted manner, during a period of retirement’ and apologised for the offence caused.
He said he ‘used the term as it was one that the complainant had previously used to describe her job’.
The Judicial Conduct Investigations Office said Barnes, who denied all other allegations, ‘did not offer any representations on the complaint that he had undermined her distance-learning law degree’.
An investigation found the two magistrates engaged in ‘two-way light-hearted banter, which failed to display professionalism.
‘It was accepted that Mr Barnes caused upset by undermining the complainant’s distance learning law degree by referencing her former air cabin career role as a “trolley dolly”,’ the JCIO said. The comments were found ‘to be “recklessly unfeeling” through sarcastic humour, resulting in emotional harm to the complainant’.
Mr Justice Keehan, on behalf of the lady chief justice and with the lord chancellor’s agreement, issued Barnes with a formal warning for misconduct.
