Asian police officer awarded £10,000 race discrimination payout after force turns him down 12 times

And GMP has been asked to improve the way it monitors the number of minority recruits.

An employment tribunal heard how Sangram Singh-Bhacker, 41, had 16 years service with a number of forces across the country.

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But PC Singh-Bhacker, from Fallowfield in Manchester, wanted to work for GMP so he could be near his family, especially his terminally ill mother who died last year.

He was awarded £5,000 for "injury to feelings" and £4,000 in "aggravated damages", plus £400 for money he spent commuting to West Yorkshire after being denied a job at GMP.

The aggravated damages - which had not originally been sought by PC Singh-Bhacker - were awarded because the tribunal judge Val Cook ruled that the officer's "honesty and integrity" had been "attacked" by those representing the force without the documentation to prove what they were saying.

She also ruled the force was "deliberately evasive in responding to questions in the Race Relations Act questionnaire".

And she said that despite the force accepting the tribunal's ruling, PC Singh-Bhacker had not been offered an apology.

The tribunal judge said the damages had been granted in relation to the last rejection, which had been given to Mr Singh-Bhacker by letter in January 2007.

The letter said he would not be considered for a transfer to Greater Manchester Police, "now or in the future".

Ms Cook said the force had not been clear on why he had been rejected and said GMP's Assistant Chief Officer for human resources Andrew Marston had confirmed the application had not been judged on its merits.

GMP was told to formally withdraw the letter within two weeks and ensure that within the next eight weeks statistics on ethnic minority recruits should be collected alongside the numbers who applied.

Following the hearing, Mr Singh-Bhacker, who now works for the British Transport Police, said he had been grateful for the support of colleagues from his new force.

He said: "I am pleased justice has been done and I hope this incident doesn't put anyone else off, especially Sikh people in the community.

"Greater Manchester Police have shown their arrogance by not giving me an apology or admitting their fault when the judgement was made. It is a shame it had to come to this."

A GMP spokesman said the force was disappointed at the decision over compensation, but accepted it.

He said: "We regret any distress caused to Mr Singh-Bhacker. We actively encourage applications from minority ethnic communities as we recognise that a force with such a diverse population as Greater Manchester should represent the communities we serve.

"We regularly accept transfers of officers from other forces if they meet the rigorous standards we require.

"These officers, who are proud to serve the people of Greater Manchester, are drawn from many different communities, including the Asian community."

Russell Bernstein, deputy chief executive of Greater Manchester Police Authority, said: "We will want to ensure that lessons are learnt and all the judge's comments and recommendations will be taken on board."