The mayor's not disabled. Nor is her husband. So why are they parked here while they are doing their shopping?

And there were plenty of empty spaces around.

Elaine Phillips sent this picture to the Observer after spotting the mayor Jennie Gillibrand and her husband Rob leave their car in the disabled bay at the Hawthorn Road Co-op.

Mrs Phillips said: "I was quite surprised and amazed someone in her position can assume it is okay to park in a disabled spot, paying no attention to how she parked.

"There was no thought to anyone else. There were 20 other parking spaces in the car park. There are only three disabled bays."

Mr Gillibrand, who was driving at the time and confirmed the car was his, said it was purely an accident.

His wife said: "It was just an honest mistake. We were just picking up a few things for my mum. What more can we say? We genuinely did not realise we parked in a disabled space."

Mrs Phillips added: "It just says to people 'do what you want'. I know it is not a big thing, but as far as I am concerned I pay my council tax, which is a lot of money, which pays her wages.

"It is not like she popped in for a paper or a pint of milk '“ she was there a while.

"This gives an extremely bad impression. This an appalling thing to do, given the position of responsibility she has."

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