A town councillor has resigned over a mayor's "snortgate" scandal.

Ron Wright, an independent, said the events surrounding Dover’s Cllr Neil Rix conflicted with his “personal, moral and ethical beliefs”.

His departure is the latest in the fallout over Cllr Rix being filmed snorting an unknown substance in a toilet cubicle.

He admitted: “Yes, I did resign over that, and the worldwide multimedia attention it got.”

He said he had other concerns but did not want to discuss the matter further at this stage.

But his resignation letter to the council said: “In the light of recent events and the worldwide media attention it has attracted, the events have forced me to reflect on the situation and consider whether I can continue in my council role.

“Unfortunately I feel that events conflict with my personal, moral and ethical beliefs and as such I now feel I can no longer work in the council chamber with any confidence.

"I believe that I was elected partly owing to my strong moral and ethical code and by compromising this I would be betraying those who elected me. I feel this is unacceptable.”

His letter, dated September 20, said that he was leaving with immediate effect and there will be a by-election to replace him on the Town and Pier ward on October 27.

Cllr Rix, an independent, was caught in a public storm when the film of him snorting the substance was circulated on social media and then published by KentOnline in August.

The story made national news with the Daily Mail using the headline: “White sniffs of Dover".

Cllr Peter Wallace said last month: “The impression we want to give of Dover to the world is as a tourist site yet this story has gone around the world online.”

VIDEO: Footage showed the mayor snorting a white substance

The row divided town councillors, with a number of Labour members saying that he should “consider his position” but other colleagues saying he should stay on because they believe he has a good record.

In a straw poll carried out by KentOnline's sister paper the Dover Mercury, four out of 10 people said Cllr Rix should resign. But others said he should stay, arguing that the original incident was too far in the past, about six years ago, and everyone has their mishaps.

Comments on the Mercury’s social media pages also reflected the divided opinions.

Two weeks ago Kent Police confirmed that they had investigated and concluded that no offences had been confirmed and the mayor would face no criminal action.

Town councillor Graham Wanstall said: “I am aware of numerous examples where Cllr Rix does good works in Dover and I urge people to put this all behind us and move on to improve Dover.”

Cllr Rix did not resign over the matter and carried on with his civic duties this week, taking part in the Speaker’s Day Parade on Saturday.

When the scandal broke he said he didn’t know what the substance was, saying it could have been sherbert, and he had been “set up” at the time.

A Dover Town Council spokesman said: “Casual vacancies occur naturally during the life of a council and may be due to disqualification, resignation or death. The reasons given by resigning councillors are better discussed with the individuals concerned rather than for the council to make comment or to speculate.”