Yesterday I was shown a leaflet put out by the Tories in Tilehurst in which they claim that Sandra Vickers is ‘leading a petition to reverse the [car park] charges’.

Well excuse me for raising a discordant note but I was under the impression that it was the local traders themselves who organised the petition and, indeed, presented it to the council. It was I who first wrote to the press about the changes to the car park charges and it was I who arranged for the petition to be presented to the council’s Cabinet where the Leader of the Council was forced to publicly back down from the original proposals. Oh and I also wrote in previous blogs in support of the campaign.

In short we can all make exaggerated claims in leaflets but this ludicrous claim is an insult to Tilehurst’s shopkeepers and will only serve to lower the reputation of all of us local councillors who try to support our local communities.

Cllr Vickers may be new on the scene but she has enough old heads around to advise her that misleading the public is never a good idea.