A British man was jailed for five hours after he photographed a cop reversing the wrong way up a one-way street.

After Andrew Carter snapped the cop van, officer Aqil Farooq leaped out, hit the camera to the ground, handcuffed him and bundled him into the back of the vehicle.

The plumber, 44, was arrested for supposedly being drunk, resisting arrest and assaulting the officer with the camera.

He was kept in cells before finally being released on police bail at midnight.

Carter, of Bedminster, Bristol, said: “I was nearly knocked down there once so when the police van went the wrong way I sort of said, ‘Hey mate. no entry’. But he just shouted out of the window, ‘(expletive) off — this is police business’.

“It was very frightening. All I had done was photograph these police officers doing something illegal, but I was the one who ended up being arrested.”

Farooq and an unnamed WPC said they were at the fish and chip shop to review CCTV footage of another incident.

A week later bachelor Carter spent another five hours at the police station with his solicitor.

Carter was never charged, but complained of wrongful arrest, and Farooq apologized at a disciplinary hearing.

Now Rob Beckley, Deputy Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset Police, has written to Carter saying: “I would like to add my apologies.

“We expect the highest standards and PC Farooq fell below what was required. His colleagues feel he let us down and he has learnt a difficult lesson.

“He realizes his actions were totally unacceptable and he could and should have apologized to you much earlier. “

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