A COUNTY councillor has slammed the former county council chairman’s of wasting police resources for an “egotistical gimmick.”

The chairman of Worcestershire Labour Group, Richard Udall, strongly criticised the use of police to transport the county council chairman’s chain of office around the county.

A police motorcyclist transported the chain to new chairman Bob Brookes.

Councillor Peter Tomlinson, the outgoing Chairman of Worcestershire County Council said:

“The usual and important public ceremonial handing over the chain was not possible this year. In order to preserve this important tradition the chain was transported from my house to the home of the incoming chairman councillor Bob Brookes.

“I would like to thank West Mercia Police, who have a very close working relationship with the county council, for their assistance. Myself and the incoming chairman both offered to pay for the time used.

Councillor Udall said: “The chain is of no great monetary value, it does not need Police protection, this was a silly gimmick used to promote the office of chairman of the County Council, it did not even need to be worn, most of the virtual meeting took place while the chain was in transit.

“We should not be using the Police as a form of courier service, they have much more important things to do. I am concerned this silly stunt took an operational police officer away from frontline emergency service, for no real benefit and for no justifiable reason. The county council even employs a driver for the Chairman, who could quite easily have put the chain in the car and taken it over to the new chairman, no police involvement was necessary. In future we should keep the chain of office at County Hall and not waste the resources of an emergency service by asking them to transport around the county as if it’s part of the Crown Jewels.”