Councillor reprimanded for hand-painting parking restrictions outside his home

Telegraph

13-05-2025

A councillor has been reprimanded for hand-painting parking restrictions outside his home.
Altaf Patel painted red lines outside his home in Blackburn, Lancashire, in December 2024 in an attempt to stop other motorists 'parking in front of the property'.
But he was forced to scrape them off after his own local authority said he had committed a 'highways offence'.
Cllr Patel, who represents Little Harwood and Whitebirk ward on Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, has now paid almost £3,000 for official markings to be painted.
The independent councillor previously went viral in 2021 for a campaign video in which he gave peace signs behind X-rated graffiti in a children's playground.
Cllr Patel said he had made a 'genuine mistake' after neighbours accused him of thinking he was 'above the law'.
'Nobody has been placing themselves above the law,' he said. 'There have been issues with people parking in front of the property.
'Due to being a taxi driver, I need access to the property at all times, and this has been an ongoing issue.'
He added: 'People have been parking in front of the house. My daughter has recently passed her test, and she bought a car and also needs access to the driveway.
'I had originally painted the red lines to mark out where the official lines should go, in case I was not home when work was due to come. It was only temporary.'
Cllr Patel said he removed the lines four days after he had painted them when the council contacted him to say he should not have done the work himself.
Carmel Foster-Devine, the authority's head of highways and transport, said he had committed a 'highways offence'.
'Painting red lines on the road outside his house is a highways offence, and Cllr Patel received a formal letter from our highways department instructing him to remove them,' she said.
Cllr Patel later paid £2,956 to the council for a dropped kerb and H-bar line – preventing people from parking outside the driveway – to be installed.
Ms Foster-Devine added: 'Cllr Patel applied and paid for both the dropped kerb and the H-bar line painting outside his property, as any resident would be required to.'
In a statement, Cllr Amin Kapadia, who represents the Audley and Queens Park ward where Cllr Patel lives, said: 'Actions such as these undermine the public's trust in elected representatives and contravene the standards expected under the Councillors' Code of Conduct.
'[These lines] are not only inappropriate but also potentially hazardous.'