Police have launched an investigation into how shadow chancellor Ed Balls drove off after colliding with a parked car without informing the owner.
The Labour MP for Morley and Outwood has since apologised to the vehicle's owner following the incident in his constituency earlier this month, and stressed he did not know any damage had been caused to the black Peugeot 306.
West Yorkshire Police confirmed officers were making inquiries into a "fail to stop collision" on Saturday April 5.
In a statement, Mr Balls said: "Ten days ago, I turned our car round in a tight spot in the private drive beside the Labour rooms in Morley.
"There was a stationary car parked close by.
"The turn took five or seven points and I was aware that at one point the bumpers of the two cars touched.
"I park there all the time in what is a relatively narrow drive.
"But until I was contacted the following Wednesday, I had no awareness at all that there had been any damage to the other car.
"As soon as I was made aware of what had happened, I took full responsibility for any damage caused.
"I have written to the owner of the other car to say I was terribly sorry and to reimburse the owner concerned for the necessary repair.
"I have contacted our insurance company in the usual way."
According to a report in the Yorkshire Post, the collision was caught on CCTV camera and Mr Balls' registration number was traced after the Peugeot's driver noticed damage the following day.
Sergeant Adrian Wright, of West Yorkshire Police's Eastern Area Roads Policing Unit, said: "We received a report on Sunday 6 April of a fail to stop collision on Commercial Street, Morley, which is reported to have happened the day before on Saturday 5 April. Damage was caused to the front offside wing of a parked black Peugeot 306.
"Enquiries are ongoing."
Chancellor George Osborne's ministerial aide Rob Wilson wrote on Twitter: "Ed Balls has crashed the car again. Thankfully nobody hurt....rather unlike when he crashed our economy."
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 hereComments are closed on this article