Councillor rants at his own wardens over parking ticket
He brands them ‘heartless b*****ds’...then is forced to apologise
WHEN his classic Triumph Herald spluttered to a halt in a no-parking zone, Tory councillor Ben Locker left a note asking for leniency from traffic wardens.
So when he returned to find a £70 ticket, he let rip on Twitter – labelling them ‘ heartless, target driven b*****ds.’
But the expletive-laden remark has now sparked a row with standards’ officials at his own local authority, who accused him of abusing staff and demanded a public apology.
Mr Locker duly obliged but maintained that slapping his brokendown car with a fine when it had a flat battery was ‘ unsympathetic.’ He is planning to appeal the fine.
Mr Locker was driving in Colchester in Essex – where he sits on the council – when the car broke down in the town centre. After unsuccessful attempts to jump start the motor – which he calls Daphne – he left it on a single yellow line where signs clearly forbid parking between 2pm and 3pm.
He then left a note on the windscreen that read: ‘Flat battery, will move this afternoon,’ before going off to buy a new one. But at 2.18pm a traffic warden issued a ticket and left it on his car. ‘There was nothing else I could do,’ Mr Locker added.
‘I found the parking ticket on the windscreen when I came back with the battery.
‘I thought it was a bit off. The restriction is there to stop commuters parking there all day, not to penalise broken down motors.’
In a fit of pique he sent a Tweet, which read: ‘Thank you North East Essex Parking Partnership. You heartless, target-driven b******s.’
After the post was reported to the council’s standards’ officer, Mr Locker deleted his remarks and agreed to make a short apology .
‘I apologise if my tweet about this parking ticket was read as a criticism of any individual,’ he wrote. ‘It wasn’t.’ Mr Locker, who was elected in May, explained later that his rant was directed more towards the organisation and culture of parking services, which he called ‘targetdriven and quite unforgiving’.
He added: ‘I do think getting the ticket was unsympathetic and I will appeal against it.’ But Robert Mitchell, chairman of the town hall-led parking partnership, said he was ‘ extremely disappointed’ that a serving councillor had used such ‘inappropriate language.’
‘As an organisation, we take any form of physical or verbal abuse very seriously,’ he said.
‘The role, as enforcement officers, can be challenging at times and situations like this are unacceptable.
‘It is extremely disappointing any councillor would feel the need to use inappropriate language.’
Colchester Council said its monitoring officer contacted Councillor Locker following the tweet last Friday to remind him of the town hall code of conduct and ask for a public apology.
A spokesman said: ‘That apology has been made and, for the council, the matter is closed.’
‘Target-driven and unforgiving’