A policeman sacked for a racist jibe says his own ethnic background proves he is not prejudiced.

Timothy Guest, 39, stationed in Hailsham, was heard to say to colleagues: "Watch the macaroon - we almost potted the black."

He lost his job on Thursday after appearing before a disciplinary panel over the incident last November.

In his defence, Mr Guest told The Argus his great-grandparents were travellers.

He said he had never used his family ancestry as a race card but knew what it was like to be on the receiving end of racist slurs.

He said: "I am not a racist and never will be. It really rankles because I know I said those comments and they were inappropriate but you have to get it into context.

"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."

He said: "People say 'pikey' all the time and even in the confines of a police station you hear it. It made me angry and I had thought about complaining but I didn't want to be ostracised from my colleagues."

Mr Guest said being a traveller was in his blood.

He said: "It's not something I practise myself but something I can appreciate because of my family ancestry."

Mr Guest and four colleagues were returning to the station after a team-building exercise when he made the racist remark after a black youth and his white friend stepped in front of the car.

His comments were reported to senior officers by a sergeant in the vehicle.

Mr Guest, a former civil servant, said senior officers were making an example of him.

He said his punishment was too severe in comparison to other recent cases.

Last month The Argus reported how a Brighton detective had been fined five days' pay for telling a colleague she had been promoted because of her colour.

Mr Guest said: "I don't know the officer involved but it seems obvious there has been no consistency here.

"I feel there has been a gross miscarriage of justice."

After four years as a personnel officer in Peckham, south London, he decided to join the police.

He said: "I have never had a complaint made against me in all the time I have been working. If I was a racist, something would have come up before in the past 20 years."

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.

Since the incident, he said he had been inundated with calls of support from friends and colleagues, both black and white.

He plans to appeal against the decision.

Mr Guest is being supported by the Sussex branch of the Police Federation.

His friend, Paul Osuagwu, whose family is African, has known Mr Guest for more than 30 years.

Mr Osuagwu said: "His dad used to run my local football team when I was 18. We used to go all over England and there was never any hint of racism from his dad, Tim or his brother. To me it's like father, like son. I know he isn't a racist."

Mr Osuagwu has written a letter to Chief Constable Ken Jones expressing his support for Mr Guest.