THE LEADER of South Lakeland District Council and six other councillors have been fined for parking illegally after attending a memorial service for a fellow councillor, reports Ellis Butcher.

Among those ticketed were SLDC figurehead Colin Hodgson (Con), Labour leader Stewart Young, Ian Stewart (Lib Dem) and Donald Jefferson, the county’s deputy Conservative Leader.

Their cars were ticketed in SLDC’s Hampsfell Road car park, Grange-over-Sands, after being left either outside designated bays, in a turning circle or in places allocated to a nearby business.

Dignitaries and business people taking part in Ulverston’s Civic Sunday Parade last week were also booked after many believed Sunday car parking was free, and because on-street parking was curbed to allow the procession to get through.

All of those booked at the Grange service have paid the £25 charge, which would have been £50 if not settled within a fortnight.

Spaces were said to be few and far between on the car park due to the numbers attending the service at St Paul’s CE Church.

A mass was held in memory of town and county councillor Peter Jackson, who died in Italy on Easter Monday.

Coun Hodgson, a long-standing Ulverston councillor, told the Gazette he parked his Rover vehicle close to a bottle bank.

Coun Hodgson explained: “When I got back the ticket was there. They’ve done me five minutes after I left the car, but I don’t see that that matters.

“I was a bit narked at first but I thought about it afterwards and it was a really, nice warm day and the place was heaving, they wouldn’t have been able to tell if I was going to a funeral, to the beach or shopping.” Coun Hodgson said that like other councillors he had an SLDC parking permit, which allowed him to park at all council-run car parks without charge.

“The traffic warden wouldn’t have known I was leader of the council and I don’t get any special dispensation and I wouldn’t expect any.

“Councillors should be setting an example. I took a chance and I got caught. I was wrong.” Coun Ian Stewart, a county councillor, said a councillor from a rival party drove into a space ahead of him.

Coun Stewart said: “I had to dump the car and block in two other councillors who I knew were in the church and would not be coming out before me.

“I hadn’t time to drive around the town another two or three times to try to find somewhere. I think perhaps there was a certain insensitivity on behalf of the parking warden but okay, I got done. I am not going to say it’s a fair cop because my parking space was pinched!” Other councillors to receive tickets included Anne Burns, Eden district councillor Phillip Chappelhow, from Penrith, and Coun Lawson Short.

Labour leader Coun Stewart Young said: “I had travelled down from Carlisle, I needed the toilet and if I had gone off looking for a space then I would have been late for the funeral service, and you can’t be. I am not disputing it and I’ve paid my fine.” Dick Base, enforcement officer for SLDC, said the department was prepared to accommodate sensitive events like funerals and weddings and, had they been notified, they would have done so.

“Councillors have to be aware that they are not going to be treated any differently to members of the public, it’s as simple as that. The parking attendant would not have known whose cars had been booked until the slips start coming in and we don’t get to see them as we are detached from admin,” said Mr Base.