A member of Tendring District Council has been found to have breached the councillor’s code of conduct during efforts to help victims of the Clacton gas explosion.

Stephen Mayzes, councillor for Rush Green, was accused by a member of the public of breaching five elements of the code.

However a meeting of the authority’s standards committee yesterday found only one breach – that of accountability – had occurred.

Mr Mayzes was found to have misled Tracey White by telling her and others he had got Morrisons to donate a full tank of fuel for a van being used by a support group to collect donations for victims of the gas explosion last year.

However when volunteers went to fill up with diesel, they were told by the supermarket that the agreement was for fuel worth £20.

The committee has now “strongly recommended” that the Conservative councillor apologise to Mrs White.

Joy Broderick, Holland Residents’ Group councillor for the Haven ward, is set to face a standards committee hearing on Monday into allegations she breached the code of conduct by harassing a neighbour over a noise complaint.