A COUNCILLOR has been ordered to remove his car from the parking spot he has used for several years after being told it was in breach of electoral rules.
The SNP's David Turner, whose car is emblazoned with his party's logo, was told he was breaking policy around campaigning and instructed to park away from the immediate vicinity of Glasgow City Chambers.
Mr Turner has used the spot on John Street at the rear of the Chambers since 2012, which sits immediately outside the council's election unit.
Despite claims the demand to shift followed a complaint from a party political rival, this has been denied, one council source claiming: "You can't not notice this car."
However, had Mr Turner, who represents a ward in the east of the city, limited his display of party loyalty to just one sticker he would have been within the authority's rules on political promotions at election time.
The Electoral Commission said the parking of party paraphernalia-festooned vehicles in the vicinity of local government headquarters was not something it had any rules on, claiming it was most likely the council's own policy.
The authority said that as the car was stationed outside what would become a polling station during a forthcoming council by-election there was an added reason for it to be parked elsewhere.
Mr Turner said: "We received an email telling us not to park vehicles promoting parties because it breached purdah last week but I couldn't get into a nearby carpark and went back to the spot I've been using for about four years. But then one of my colleagues, not me, gets a call telling him I have to move my car.
"This seems to have been an issue since the Referendum when there were complaints about Yes stickers.
"I can understand this being an issue the week before an election but I've still got committee meetings to attend and other council work to do."
But a council source said: "We're not talking a bumper sticker here. The car is covered in SNP stuff and seems a deliberate attempt to use a permanent spot for Cllr Turner to advertise for his party.
"It's outside the election offices where there's going to be a continual coming and going of people associated with all parties and that leads to complaints. The advice was given to everyone, rather than one individual. Although this issue has been mentioned before ahead of previous polls."
It is not the first time Mr Turner's car has hit the headlines. Earlier this year it was snapped by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon driving along a motorway from her own vehicle.
Ms Sturgeon posted the photograph onto her Twitter account with the caption "Hope this guy's a careful driver!", with the tweet going viral.
A spokesman said: “Like officials, elected members are given advice on the council’s obligations during a pre-election period.
“The City Chambers sits within the Anderston/City ward, for which a by-election will be contested on May 5.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel