Reform UK’s Lee Anderson has been caught parking in a disabled parking spot while on the campaign trail.
Video and pictures show the ex-Tory, now standing for Nigel Farage’s party, getting into a silver car parked in a disabled bay in Huthwaite Market Place car park in his Ashfield constituency on Friday.
Mr Anderson is seen putting a bag in the boot of his grey BMW X5 vehicle and removing his jacket before opening the driver’s door and getting in. A blue badge is not displayed on the windscreen.
Approached for comment, Mr Anderson said he did not remember where he was that day as he was “all over Ashfield on Friday at several different locations.” He added: “The only time I would deliberately park in a disabled bay in when I’m with my disabled wife.”
But the video also shows what appears to be a broadcast crew entering the vehicle with him – one of whom was carrying a boom microphone.
Around an hour and a half after the video was taken, Mr Anderson posted a Facebook video of him and his team “having a well-deserved break” in The Picture House, a Wetherspoons pub around 8 minutes drive from the car park.
Last month his party leader, Nigel Farage, sparked fury after pictures emerged of him parking his white BMW in a disabled parking spot for 45 minutes to go shopping at M&S.
In 2021, Mr Anderson posted on Facebook about a Zoom meeting he’d attended with the Conservative Party’s disabilities group. He said they had “asked a series of questions about disabilities. It made me realise how ignorant I am.”
He added: “One gentleman told me there are certain places he does not visit as there are no disabled toilets. I promised him I will raise this and I will. I obviously take too much for granted.”