The Mayor of Maidstone’s official car was issued with a ticket after it was parked on double yellow lines outside the Town Hall and spotted by a vigilant parking attendant.

The mayor’s driver at the time will now have to pay the £30 fine after council officials decided to uphold the ticket.

The three drivers employed to chauffeur Cllr Peter Hooper to official engagements regularly stop for a few seconds in the High Street – which is usually only open to buses, taxis and disabled vehicles – to pick up and drop off the mayor at the Town Hall parlour. But in this case, the car had been parked for some time.

A Maidstone council spokesman said: “The parking attendant was doing his job correctly in issuing the penalty charge notice. There has been no appeal and the fine will be paid.

“The attendant was aware it was the mayoral car and this clearly demonstrates that the council is taking a consistent line whenever an offence is committed. An offence was committed and we have dealt with it as we would any other.”

All three drivers have now been reminded of their responsibilities and the council is reviewing guidelines to make sure they are clear where they can stop around the Town Hall.