BEWDLEY Mayor, Paul Gittins, has rejected a claim by a fellow member he was parked illegally while at a council meeting in the town.

Conservative town councillor, Stephen Clee, said Labour’s Mr Gittins was parked in a “disabled parking bay on the wrong side of the road”, in Load Street, on Monday, “causing delays to Worcestershire County Council’s road resurfacing programme”.

Mr Gittins denied parking illegally, however. He said his wife, Carol, who is also a Labour town councillor and was at the meeting, is disabled with arthritis and her blue badge was displayed in the car window.

He added he was not on the wrong side of the road but admitted his car had been facing the wrong way which, he claimed, was acceptable in daylight.

Mr Clee said the county council told residents not to park in Load Street between 6pm and 7am while the work was carried out.

“It’s appalling when town councillors blatantly ignore the rules and think they are above it themselves,” he said, “We desperately need Load Street resurfaced after Severn Trent has dug so many holes and trenches.”

But Mr Gittins, who is also a first responder, said he spoke to a contractor, who told him he could park there.

Mr Gittins said: “I told him I was a first responder and was on call until 7.30pm so is it ok if I leave the car here until then so, if I get a call, it’s close to hand and he said ‘yes’.

“Later on, about 7pm, one of the contractors came into the meeting and asked for the number of the local police because there were some cars parked in the way.

“As Mayor, I went out to have a look and again asked if my car was ok parked there. He said ‘your car’s all right - it’s the other cars we want moved’.

“I went back to the meeting and came back to move my car at 7.30pm and put it in the car park.”