Lee Hessey, chief executive of The Forge Academy Trust in Nottinghamshire, has been banned indefinitely from teaching after a Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) panel found he sent a series of abusive and discriminatory text messages, including saying he hoped Ofsted inspectors would "go under a lorry on black ice". The case highlights serious misconduct by a senior education figure who oversaw six primary schools, with the panel stressing that his seniority increased rather than excused his responsibility for the tone he set.

The messages, sent between September 2022 and April 2023, included calling complaining parents "scrotes, vermin and pond life", a "stupid cow" and "low life", as well as remarks the panel deemed racially and religiously discriminatory and mocking of disability. Although the panel acknowledged Hessey's "substantial" positive contributions to schools in deprived areas and did not itself recommend a permanent ban, a senior TRA official acting for the Education Secretary overruled this, deeming an indefinite prohibition order "proportionate" and in the public interest.