A friend of mine, Tony, sent me his letter / account and the acompaning photos, he tells me the photos have been sent to the local papers as well.
Below is a copy of the letter.
Harlow Conservatives break the rules
On Monday 26th of April at 1.30pm I noticed Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate Robert Halfon's promotional van had parked up in a very prominent parking space on the North Bound A414 in the disabled bays next to Harlow Town Park show ground on Fifth Avenue.
At first I thought the Conservatives were pushing their luck illegally parking in the disabled bays, then I thought perhaps Robert Halfon was with the van, I know he is disabled so perhaps he was nearby. I looked across, I couldn't see any sign of Robert Halfon, just the driver. I continued on my journey down to Burnt Mill roundabout,still no sign of Robert Halfon.
Later as I left Sainsbury's , Robert Halfon's promotional van had managed to park dead opposite the entrance and exit to the store in the car park. I went over and challenged the driver. I said "I noticed he was parked up in the disabled bays next to the town park, did he have a Blue Badge?" The driver was a bit surprised at this request and looked around his cab, he never showed me anything, but went on to say "Well Robert is disabled." I said "that's not the way it works" and went back to help my disabled relative into my car.
Thinking to myself he was parking illegally, but with the Conservative's running Harlow council there would be little chance of them prosecuting themselves, I hoped the driver got the message.
Then I wrote to Robert Halfon on his face book page to make him aware of the situation.
Wednesday 28th April 8.15 am
Robert Halfon's promotional van was parked up in the same place. This time I happened to have a camera with me, I stopped and took some photos, then challenged the driver again, I asked "did he have a Blue Badge?" The driver waved what might have been a Blue Badge from the passenger side of the window.
The driver asked "who are you, a traffic warden?"
"No I'm just a consistent who thinks your taking the Micky" I replied.
The driver said "I'm not taking the Micky, I think you are, you have a camera and an agenda."
I asked "where is Robert Halfon? " I'd assumed from the driver's responses on both occasions that he wasn't disabled, so he must be parked up illegally or Robert Halfon was nearby.
I asked again "where is Robert? " "on the 414" was the reply,"where about's on the 414" I asked
The driver was getting flustered now and responded with, "I'm not telling you, you have a camera"
Again I asked "where on the 414?" the driver responded with "I dropped him off, I have to park somewhere".
I gave up at this point and drove on to Burnt Mill roundabout, still no sign of Robert Halfon.
On Thursday 29th of April the BBC ran a report on the London lunch time news focusing on Harlow. At last, I could see where Robert was on the A414, he was near the M11, miles away from his promotional transit van, sitting next to the road widening road works on the A414 with a poster of himself. Robert told the interviewer he had been sitting there all the time trying to highlight the need for Harlow to have an A414 bypass.
Labour and Liberal candidates are also campaigning on the same issue, though not as bizarrely as to sit next to roadworks with a poster of themselves.
I can only assume the Conservative promotional van was breaking the law by parking in the disabled bays.
Robert Halfon's election quote from the Harlow Star April 29th,
"Gordon Brown has let Harlow down. We have the highest crime rate in Essex."
Plus another couple of crimes to add thanks to the Conservative party promotional van!
Is Robert Halfon condoning his van driver's action?
Will Harlow's Conservative Council prosecute themselves now there is photographic evidence?
Regards
Tony
Roy's comment: I thought the Conservatives used to call themselves the law and order party, perhaps it's one rule for them and another for the rest of us.
