Kent politicians were made subject to a tirade of terrifying verbal abuse and intimidation during surgery with police failing to show up.

A Canterbury councillor said an aggressive man bombarded her with vile remarks, calling her “an imbecile, stupid cow” and worse during surgery.

The Labour representative describes feeling “very unsafe” during the 45 minutes of abuse, with the individual eventually leaving of their own accord.

Cllr Charlotte Cornell and fellow Canterbury City councillor Naomi Smith, says police were twice called to Whitstable’s Seasalter Christian Centre but failed to attend.

Cllr Cornell told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) she suffered “misogynistic verbal abuse” and “intimidation” at the hands of the individual.

“A gentleman turned up to talk to us about a planning issue and became increasingly upset and angry and aggressive and verbally abusive,” she added.

“He was asked to leave, wouldn’t leave, then followed us [out of the meeting room] and still wouldn’t leave. He started being verbally abusive to members of staff.”

Recounting the ordeal on X, formerly Twitter, she said the man called her “an imbecile, a stupid cow, a f**cking woman, the stupidest woman he’s ever met and worse.”

"I told him it was International Women’s Day. He told me to f*** off," she wrote.

“After 45 minutes or an hour or so he did leave the building and we all felt very unsafe then leaving ourselves – what if he was still there?”

The Whitstable representative said Kent Police was phoned at least twice but officers did not attend.

She continued: “Certainly the verbal abuse was misogynistic, which makes you think that the overall pattern of behaviour could be misogynistic.

“On days like this where you get hate and intimidation and potential violence it’s still incredibly scary.

“The only reason I chose to put it on social media is because it is International Women’s Day and it shows just how far we do still have to go to make sure that women feel safe enough to serve in public office.”

Fellow Whitstable councillor Naomi Smith said it was a “deeply unpleasant experience and not what you expect on International Women’s Day”.

“I don’t want women to be put off from going into politics but this sort of behaviour is not acceptable,” she added.

She said while the man launched abuse she opened a meeting room door so others could hear.

“I thought ‘I’m not having this man behind closed doors because it’s obviously escalating’”.

She said at the peak of aggression he told her to “shut up” and placed his hand to her face.

“There should have been a better response from the police on this,” she continued.

“I’m just really disappointed: we want to be open to the people who elected us and be there to be able to run surgeries and help sort out people’s problems.”

In a statement, police confirmed they were called at 9.30am to a report that a man had made abusive comments.

“Advice was given to the caller and the call was continuously monitored by the call handler,” the spokesman added.

“A further call in relation to the incident was made to police at 9.50am. During that call, the man reported to have been causing a disturbance left the building.

“The incident is being treated as an alleged public order offence and inquiries into the circumstances are ongoing.”