The beleaguered Kent crime commissioner Ann Barnes is facing calls to rule herself out of running for a second term when elections are held next May.

The calls follow an independent investigation by a police watchdog that found there was evidence she may have been driving without valid insurance when she was involved in a car crash.

The IPPC report concluded: “It is the investigator’s opinion that there is evidence upon which the IPCC Commissioner could determine that an offence of using motor vehicle without insurance on 16 September 2014, contrary to The Road Traffic Act 1998, may have been committed by Mrs Barnes.”

Ashford MP Damian Green, a former policing minister, said the time had come for her to indicate she would not stand for a second term in the £85,000 role.

“I think this is the end of it. I think Ann should decide - not least for her own sake - that she should not run again and should take the opportunity to clearly state that.”

He added that he did not agree there should be powers of recall for crime commissioners.

“The crime panel has the powers to discipline commissioners - there are constraints. Ultimately, there is the sanction of the electorate.”

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With seven months to go before the next commissioner elections, it is thought highly unlikely she would stand aside and the costs of any new election before then could cost up to £1m.

Cllr Mike Eddy, a Labour county councillor who sits on the Kent Crime Panel, said: “If she has got any sense, she should not run again. But any election costs on average £1 a vote and do we want to do that when the elections are coming next May?”

The commissioner said in a statement: “I have fully cooperated with the IPCC’s lengthy investigation and I am pleased that the matter has finally been resolved.”

The report follows several controversies during Mrs Barnes' time in office, including the resignation of her first youth crime commissioner Paris Brown over controversial tweets, and the investigation into her second youth tsar Kerry Boyd over a friendship with a former councillor.