A parking officer allegedly swore at a member of public who caught him parking in a disabled bay in a busy Marlow car park - prompting Wycombe District Council to issue an apology.

Marlow resident Ian Munro was in Riley Road car park near Sainsbury’s last Wednesday when he saw a car “zoom” into a disabled parking space, before a Wycombe District Council parking officer got out.

Challenging the parking officer for parking in a disabled bay, Mr Munro alleges he was then sworn at.

Describing the encounter, he said: “I called out to him that he was parked in a disabled parking bay and was not allowed to park there.

“He walked back to his car and tapped on his WDC sticker on the windscreen and told me in no uncertain terms that he was entitled to park anywhere. I told him again that it was for the disabled and he didn't seem very disabled.

“He told me to p*** off and turned around and started walking away. I took the first photo of him as he turned away and the second showing the car illegally parked.”

Mr Munro said the parking officer’s attitude has “left a bad taste in my mouth”.

He said: “The arrogance of this man was breath-taking. His attitude really annoyed me. He didn’t explain the reason why he was parked there.

“To the general public, people like him are the face of WDC, they are the ones interacting with the public and they are the ones leaving a bad impression behind.”

Sue Robinson, a spokesman for Wycombe District Council, apologised for any offence the parking officer may have caused.

She said: “We are aware of this incident and have already taken appropriate steps to remind all our staff of what is the best professional practice we expect them to follow while carrying out their duties.

“We select our staff carefully and in fact customers have often given us verbal thanks and compliments regarding this officer.

“Our staff are often the victims of both verbal and physical abuse and it is because of their professionalism in dealing with the general public at all levels that it is extremely rare for us to get reports of this nature.

“Our patrolling staff use bays reserved for their operational use when carrying out their duties. Unfortunately, on the day in question at Riley Road a driver had illegally parked in this bay and as a result the officer had parked in the next nearest bay available having ensured that there were many other disabled bays in the row of 15 which were available for use at that time.

“We would like to apologise for any offence he may have caused in this instance.”