A policeman sacked after being reported by a colleague for making a racist remark has failed to get his job back.

When a black teenager walked in front of their car as they returned to their station, PC Tim Guest joked: "Watch the macaroon - we almost potted the black."

He was reported by the sergeant driving the vehicle and sent before a disciplinary panel, which dismissed him from his £23,000-a-year job in January.

Mr Guest, now 40, admitted making the racist remark during the journey last November as he returned to the station in Wealden, after a training exercise.

It emerged today his appeal has been dismissed by a police tribunal.

Mr Guest, who was stationed at Hailsham, today accused Sussex Police of a culture of political correctness and complained he had been harshly treated after three years of unblemished service as a beat officer.

Mr Guest, who lives in Bexhill, said: "I'm not saying it was an appropriate comment to make. It was a silly thing to say, I'm not denying that, but the action taken against me was dramatic to say the least.

"People who know me would tell you I am not a racist.

"Even the people in the car at the time didn't take offence. It was said in all innocence.

"Police use the word potted as a phrase to describe a pedestrian hit in a road traffic crash. It was a play on words.

"It's ever so sad because I loved that job. But if you talk to any policeman, they will tell you they are scared of being labelled with the racist tag.

"If you talk to anybody in any walk of life, be it in local government or wherever, they will say that never in a million years would a case be dealt with like mine was."

Mr Guest was stationed as a beat officer in Eastbourne before being moved to Hailsham. He had been offered a post at the road policing department in Polegate shortly before he was sacked.

He said he had been inundated with support from friends and colleagues, both black and white, and backed by police support group Protect the Protectors.

Its founder Norman Brennan said Mr Guest was a good, hard-working police officer and, under normal circumstances, the comment would have been dealt with by a senior officer taking him to one side and making a note in his pocket book - not by dismissal.

Mr Guest may take his case to judicial review after first sifting through the appeal panel's judgement.

A Sussex Police spokeswoman said: "We can confirm the decision to dismiss Timothy Guest has been upheld by the police appeals tribunal but we will not be making any comment."

The Commission for Racial Equality declined to comment on the case.