A PARKING warden has been labelled a “jobsworth” and accused of being “mean-spirited” after issuing a bus taking 50 girls to their school prom with a ticket.

A Discover Dorset bus was hired to take girls from Highcliffe Secondary School to their prom at Vitality Stadium on Tuesday night.

However, a dampener was put on the evening when a parking warden issued the bus with a ticket in the Highcliffe Cliff Top Car Park, despite it preparing to leave within ten minutes.

Owner of Discover Dorset, Tim Sanders, who was driving the bus at the time, said: “I was sat while the girls had their photos taken, all the girls had put stuff on the bus.

“We were just about to set off and get ready to go, this parking warden turned up and said, ‘you are not parked within the bay’.

“I said we were getting ready for a prom and were just about to go and they said, ‘go now’. It didn’t really matter, there were hundreds of empty spaces, I wasn't obstructing anyone.

“It’s been a terrible year and this was a celebration, I thought they were joking.

“Can you be really that mean-spirited to put a parking ticket on a prom bus?

“It went against the grain of the whole moment, these kids were all done up in their finery, a positive message, the end of their senior school years and some jobsworth puts a parking ticket on their prom bus.

“We will definitely appeal it. I would rather pay the £50 to charity than give it to the council for this stupid reason.”

Simon Welch was with his daughter who organised the prom travel.

He said: “The bus was parked at the back of the car park, he had the girls’ personal belongings on the bus, they were going to get back on in the next ten minutes.

“The warden put a ticket on the bus, I said ‘by the time you have done all the cars who have not paid the bus would have moved’, it was just jobsworth.

“All the parents were frustrated, somebody has to pay it. I know the driver and he said he will dispute it.

“With all the trouble with parking round here at the moment, and you have got two lunatics in uniform in a car park at six o’ clock.

“They need to realise that perhaps they are overzealous, they didn’t understand the situation.

“In ten minutes time we would have been out, it’s pathetic.”

A spokesperson for BCP Council said: “We have investigated the matter and we will now contact the driver directly so that we can invite them to lodge an appeal in line with PCN regulations.

“We apologise for any inconvenience caused.’’