A police officer was found to have wrongly issued a notice to a driver warning that he might face prosecution for careless driving, despite having no case against him, an independent watchdog of the force heard yesterday. The case, discussed at a meeting of the Independent Police Complaints Council, was discovered after the driver lodged a complaint against police for mishandling a report he filed. The driver told police he parked his car at a meter spot one night, and the next day, he found the front bumper damaged and scratch marks on the rear bumper. The car had also been moved forward. Police considered the case to be a traffic accident, but the driver accused them of neglect for failing to involve traffic and crime detectives. He was also unhappy that it took a month for police to take a statement from him. The force's Complaints Against Police Office substantiated the complaint about the delay, but dismissed the other allegation. Chief Superintendent Chang Mo-see said police had reviewed the case and agreed the officer should not have issued the notice.