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Thursday 27 August 2009

Mayor of Wirral apologises after his official car is spotted parked straddling double yellow lines - with pictures

Wirral Globe - by Justin Dunn

THE Mayor of Wirral Councillor Andrew Hodson has apologised after his car was spotted by a Globe reader parked on double yellow lines.

Wirral's first citizen - who presides over a council that employs a 'spy car' to issue tickets to errant motorists - had stopped off at an address in Old Bidston Road, Birkenhead, shortly before 2pm on Wednesday.

His official mayoral grey Jaguar - with the distinctive number plate WCM 1M - was seen by the Globe reader parked up, half on the pavement, straddling the double yellows, as pictured.

The Mayoress, Cllr Hodson's wife Kathy, was alone in the rear of the vehicle. The Mayor's chauffeur was standing nearby, while Cllr Hodson was inside a neighbouring business address.

The reader said: "For a council that hands out parking tickets like Smarties and employs a sneaky spy car to do its dirty work, this was just taking the Mick.

"The Mayor's supposed to set an example. But what would happen if any of us regular motorists copied this?"

Later, the Mayor and Mayoress were attending an event at a school for the blind in Birkenhead.

Today, Cllr Hodson apologised and told the Globe: "It was obviously a bad error of judgement. It should not have happened.

"I have asked my driver to take more care in future and observe the parking restrictions in any place that we visit."

It's understood the Mayor has had "strong words" with his chauffeur.

A spokeswoman for Wirral Council said: "However much we would like to, it is simply illegal for the council to issue a parking ticket based upon a photograph that hasn't been provided by a parking enforcement officer.

"The council takes its obligations to comply with parking regulations extremely seriously.

"Staff and elected members will be treated no differently to any members of the public.

"The driver has been instructed to ensure that this incident is not repeated and has assured us that it will never happen again."

The council's highways boss Dave Green, director of technical services, told the Globe: "A ticket can only be issued if an offence has been observed by a civil enforcement officer or an approved device, such as the Smart car.

"The Mayor and elected members are treated equally as any member of the public, and we have indeed ticketed the Mayor's car in the past.

"This area concerned does not have the surveillance car operating because it is patrolled by civil enforcement officers.

"If residents witness repeated examples of bad parking they can always contact us to send out an officer to their area."

© copyright Wirral Globe. Reproduced under fair use for the dual purposes of comment and news reporting

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