A council worker is being investigated after reportedly refusing to move from a disabled parking space for a cancer patient – before calling the police on the ill man when he was left with no choice but to park illegally. 

Chris Drummond, who is registered disabled and a cancer patient at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, attempted to park in a disabled bay in Bourne End but found a van – emblazoned with the Transport for Bucks (TfB) logo - was already taking up the space.

He claims his repeated calls for the council worker to move were ignored, and decided to “block” his van in by parking behind him, so he could go to a Cancer Research UK fundraising meeting.

The TfB worker then called Thames Valley Police, who sent a recovery company to tow away Mr Drummond’s vehicle - landing him with a £150 release fee to pay to get his car back.

Recalling the incident, which took place at around 10.30am on January 19 at the busy village shopping road, The Parade, the blue badge holder said he waited for a “few minutes” to see if he would move from the bay but ended up having to park up nearby after he failed to leave.

He said: “I got out and knocked on the window of his car. I asked the driver if he knew that he was in a disabled bay and would he move his car. He said to me he would do it in a minute but he wasn’t going to do it at that time.

“I asked him a couple more times to do it and he was adamant that he would do it in his own time.”

Realising he was holding up traffic, Mr Drummond proceeded to park his car behind the TfB van, before snapping some pictures of the driver and then heading across the road to Costa Coffee for the meeting.

He said: “I am so disappointed that he wouldn’t even acknowledge that he was in an area where he shouldn’t be parking and despite reasonable requests to move, he declined to do so. I then took action and parked up behind him.

“He was obviously there quite some while because another woman had spotted him and then there was the reluctance to actually move.

“I couldn’t believe that he didn’t recognise he was parked somewhere he shouldn’t have been. It was almost like ‘I'm going to do this in my own time and you’re going to have to wait.”

“Aggrieved” at the “arrogant and dismissive” council worker’s actions, Mr Drummond now wants Bucks County Council to “cough up” and pay the £150 fee, along with a donation to Cancer Research UK.

Laura-Jo Stocks, a spokesman for Transport for Bucks, said the incident is being urgently investigated.

She said: “We are aware of this incident and are currently carrying out an investigation as a matter of urgency. Once the investigation is complete, we will take appropriate action, which may well include Mr Drummond’s recommendations.”