County council staff were told by a senior official how they could bypass a block on an online poll on Shropshire’s bid for unitary status to allow them to vote more than once, it was revealed today.

The advice from head of communications Paul Masterman on how they could submit multiple votes has led to BBC Radio Shropshire suspending its online poll.

Today Mr Masterman admitted that he had told staff in an e-mail how they could get around a block on the vote but denied that he had told them how to vote.

The straw poll asked visitors to the BBC’s Shropshire website whether they wanted a unitary authority or not.

The county council is in favour of one council for Shropshire and in a leaked e-mail to staff, Mr Masterman said there was a need to ensure that those who were keen to vote ‘yes’ did so. He gave technical details of how to bypass the ‘cookies’ – the block to prevent people voting more than once.

Mr Masterman said that as part of his e-mail he did tell staff how they could get rid of the block.

“I can say categorically that at no time has this council instructed staff to vote in a particular way. I made it clear that they had to vote in accordance to their preference.”

Mr Masterman would not comment on whether he had been censured for his advice. He said his job was to inform people that the county council had unanimously agreed the bid for unitary status and to encourage people to have their say on the issue.

“I am continuing to do that job today,” he added.

BBC Radio Shropshire news editor Sharon Simcock said they had been surprised by the leaked e-mail.