THE OWNER of a vehicle parked on a sea wall was accused of acting like a “Glasgow gorilla” during a heated confrontation with a councillor.

Richard Smith

THE OWNER of a vehicle parked on a sea wall was accused of acting like a “Glasgow gorilla” during a heated confrontation with a councillor.

The row blew up when Roger Warren, a district councillor for Aldeburgh, decided to investigate why a vehicle was parked on the sea wall at Slaughden.

New regulations have been imposed by Suffolk Coastal District Council to ban motor homes from parking at any time on the sea wall although Cllr Warren admitted it was difficult to work out what constituted a motor home.

Cllr Warren made the outspoken attack at a town council meeting during which he told of his fracas with the motorist.

Cllr Warren said: “I did have a contretemps on Saturday morning when I was up there with some Glasgow gorilla. They thought I was interested in the fact that the vehicle was not taxed.

“I thought I was going to leave with a bloody nose and it was very difficult to calm the fellow down.”

Cllr Warren said he was subjected to a tirade of appalling language and he feared he was “in danger of my life” during the incident.

“The occupants indicated they were fishermen who had been doing this for the last 25 years and nobody was going to stop them - they were probably quite harmless but you do have to take a stance somewhere,” he said.

He then took down the vehicle's registration number and gave this to the district council to take action.

Cllr Warren said the new signs had had a positive impact on trying to reduce the number of motor homes at Slaughden but he showed pictures of vehicles to councillors to illustrate the difficulties in identifying them.

Suffolk Coastal has banned motor homes day and night from the sea wall, although they are permitted at Slaughden Quay car park during the day.

The signs refer to motorised caravans and Suffolk Coastal says this means a motorised or self-propelled caravan, camper van, dormobile, motor home or similar vehicle and includes any bus, coach, lorry, van or other vehicle adapted for human habitation whether permanent or temporary.

Suffolk Coastal and the town council were worried that the motor homes were damaging the sea wall although motor home owners have said they were being discriminated against because other vehicles, including 4x4s, caused as much damage to the surface.