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An elderly woman had to be questioned as a hate criminal after beeping her car horn at a black driver due to existing rules, a police commissioner says.

Hate crime regulations forced police to quiz the pensioner under caution because the other driver reported it as one, said Anthony Stansfeld, the commissioner for Thames Valley.

The other driver was "taking ages" at a petrol station, so the woman, in her seventies, beeped her horn to get her to move, he revealed.

Mr Stansfeld described the woman as a "pillar of society" and called for a review of current rules after the woman had to be questioned on suspicion of a hate crime.

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(Image: Get Reading)

He told the Sunday Times that current laws mean detectives have to investigate anything that is “perceived” to be a hate crime, which could result in “huge injustices”.

He added: "It was an absolute classic. An elderly couple turned up at a petrol station and there was a woman who had filled up with petrol in front of them.

"She was taking ages fiddling around and the lady who was driving, who was in her seventies, peeped on the horn and out flew an Afro-Caribbean lady who screamed abuse at them, went into the kiosk and reported it as a hate crime.

"We had to investigate it. [The elderly lady] was questioned under caution. And this woman was a pillar of society. She was hugely upset."

Mr Stansfeld, whose area includes Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, said the elderly woman later wrote to him asking if he had recorded the case as a crime.

He added: "She asked us to remove it but the law is such that once it's on the books we cannot do so."

Last month, official figures revealed hate crimes had soared over the past year, but it only takes into account those reported to police.

Nearly 2,000 incidents are reported every week, a rise of 17 per cent compared to last year.

According to the Home Office, there were 94,098 hate crimes recorded in 2017-18.