Parking ticket trial begins

A police officer today denied taking a Telford motorist by the throat during a row over a parking ticket.Constable Mike Sanders was giving evidence in the trial at Shrewsbury Magistrates Court of Telford father-of-two, David Copeland.

Copeland, of Wedgewood Crescent, Ketley, has denied resisting Constable Sanders in his duties during an incident at Wyle Cop, Shrewsbury on March 5.

Magistrates were told self-employed electrician, Copeland, had parked his car on double yellow lines. Copeland, 27, who had his father-in-law's disabled badge on the car, had been told by a traffic warden he could park his vehicle for three hours.

Constable Sanders said he had driven past the car 20 minutes earlier and had given the driver "the benefit of the doubt", but noticed the car was causing jams and asked Copeland, who was helping to renovate a shop in Wyle Cop, to move the vehicle.

The officer said Copeland refused to move the vehicle and when another traffic warden turned up to issue a ticket, which was later cancelled, the defendant became aggressive.

The officer said he had Copeland by the scruff of his shirt and had to use CS spray to restrain him. He denied the suggestion from Copeland's defence counsel that he "went too far" in trying to restrain Copeland.

The trial continues.