South Ribble councillors warned over f-word police call

No action was taken by police after the report

All 49 members of a council have been reminded of the "unprecedented" demands on officers after police were called over use of the f-word at a meeting.

Tory councillor Paul Wharton complained to police after Labour's Ken Jones swore at him during a South Ribble licensing committee meeting last month.

Lancashire Police has since written to all councillors reminding them to use internal complaints procedures instead.

Mr Jones called it a "waste of police time". Mr Wharton has yet to comment.

The letter from Chief Insp Crowe, seen by the BBC, was distributed among the council's membership by its monitoring officer David Whelan.

It said both men were spoken to by officers and a full crime report submitted after the complaint on 12 September but that no further action was taken.

It added: "At a time of austerity where demand on the police is at unprecedented levels... we would ask professional bodies including those made up of elected officials to consider use of internal standards regimes first in matters which relate to standards of professional behaviour."

'Petty and childish'

Mr Jones said he had apologised to the committee chairman for his actions at the meeting, adding: "That should have been the end of it.

"The letter said what everyone else was thinking."

David Howarth, who leads the council's Liberal Democrat group, was not at the meeting but described the complaint as "petty and childish".

"If we all called police every time somebody swore, nothing would ever get done," he said.

Members of the public who had been told that police unable to respond to reports of anti-social behaviour or theft would be particularly angry, he added.