By Miranda Aldersley For Mailonline
Published: 23:27 BST, 16 May 2019 | Updated: 23:39 BST, 16 May 2019
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Portrait of Captain Nick Cooke-Priest OBE, who was sacked from his role as Commanding Officer of HMS Queen Elizabeth
The Royal Navy has been accused of overreacting after it sacked 'one of its best' officers for the minor indiscretion of driving its official car on weekends.
Commodore Nick Cooke-Priest, 50, had been the captain of the £3 billion HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier since October, but was fired after driving the ship's Ford Galaxy 'as if it was his own'.
Insiders claimed that the Commodore was never warned that the car was for official duties only, and he is said to be 'gutted' after discovering he had breached the rules by making personal journeys in the Galaxy.
One source is quoted in The Sun as saying he should merely have been given a 'slap on the wrist'.
Another former officer told the paper: 'Nick adores the Navy and has lost his career by doing what captains have done for decades — using the company car to get home.
'An
