10:00am Thursday 26th November 2009
By Lucy Pearce
POLICE have been accused of flouting the law after a patrol car was spotted on double yellow lines without a valid tax disc.
The Honda CR-V was parked in Marsh Road with a tax disc that had expired at the end of October.
Garage owner Nigel Dowsett, 51, said he was so furious with what he saw that he approached the driver to ask why he was able to park on double yellow lines with an out of date tax disc.
According to Mr Dowsett the driver told him that he should contact the station with his concerns.
Mr Dowsett, of Dowsett Motors, later received a call from a sergeant who he said apologised for the incident.
Mr Dowsett said: “The sergeant couldn’t believe that officers had parked a marked police car on the road that wasn’t taxed.
“He told me that all he could do was profoundly apologise and he would look into the matter further.
“I was pleased that he contacted me and apologised but I am still angry because it seems there is one rule for the police and another rule for us.”
Mr Dowsett said he was fined £260 three months ago for parking a customer’s car, which he wasn’t aware was untaxed, in a lay-by near his garage.
He said it was just one of several times he has been fined for ‘ridiculous misdemeanours’.
Mr Dowsett added: “It seems the police have nothing better to do than pull over or question motorists.
“I understand why I have been fined in the past but when I saw this police car I couldn’t believe it because I had only recently got into trouble for doing the exact same thing.
“There is absolutely no excuse for this and in my opinion they are operating under a two-tier policing system.”
Sergeant Tony Smith, of Weymouth Police, said officers were exempt from paying road tax for police vehicles but added a vehicle tax disc should be displayed in each police vehicle to indicate that the vehicle is registered.
He said: “The reason why there was not a tax disc on this vehicle is because it is coming up to being sold and it was not being used for police purposes. It had been sent down to Marsh Road Garages for its MoT and from the enquiries I have made it could have been one of the garage employees who parked the car there and it may have been them who told Mr Dowsett to go down to the police station.”
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