Star date: 13th March 2014

IS IT ONE RULE FOR THE MAYOR AND ONE FOR EVERYONE ELSE?

It appears that Salford City Mayor, Ian Stewart, has been parking his camper van in the Salford Council staff car park at Turnpike House for over a month without paying for it. All other staff have to pay 1% of their salary to park in Council car parks, while the public also has to pay to park if visiting Council departments.

Is it one rule for Stewart and one for everyone else?

Full details here…

ONE RULE FOR THE MAYOR AND ONE FOR EVERYONE ELSE?

Part One...

It's no secret that Salford City Mayor Ian Stewart owns a deluxe touring camper van. Very much like the one that has been parked up at the back of Salford Council's Turnpike House for over a month, taking up two car parking spaces. Many staff are convinced that the van belongs to the Mayor and are not happy at all.

To park at any Council site employees now have to pay 1% of their salary, a measure brought in a couple of years ago as part of the cuts. With Ian Stewart earning a salary of £69,000 he should be charged £69 a month for pleasure of parking his charabanc, and possibly more as it takes up two spaces. Yet there's no visible sign of a permit.

"If this is true, given the fact that our members need to pay for parking, it's only fair that the Mayor does as well" says Steve North Branch Secretary at Salford City Unison "If he hasn't paid for a permit that's disappointing because everyone else has got to."

Indeed, if it is the Mayor's camper van, DVLA might also like to investigate as the tax disc displayed on the vehicle ran out in March 2012. Given that the van has been parked up for just over a month, it begs the question as to whether the Mayor actually drove the van illegally on the road to get it to its new home.

When the Salford Star questioned the Mayor as to whether the camper van was his and if he had paid to park at Turnpike, the official response was "no comment".

* If the camper van is Stewart's, he's probably dumped it because, with his huge new salary plus his MP's pension and rent coming in from his second home in London, camping is all a bit passe, a bit Barton Moss. Last year, while Salford Council was celebrating becoming a Living Wage City, guaranteeing wages slightly above the poverty level, Ian Stewart was actually on a deluxe cruise. Slightly more fitting for a man of his means...

* We can now confirm 100% that it is indeed the Mayor's camper van

See Part Two Salford Mayor Slammed by Government Minister for Damaging Democracy and an Independent Free Press - click here