“ONE rule for us and one rule for them!”

That’s the view of a retailer who was hit with a £35 parking charge while loading.

He went to pay, and found a van parked up on the pavement to help council ticketing staff move office.

Only a few days earlier, he photographed a police car parked in a bus stop while an officer bought fish and chips.

“My theory now is that some people are above the law,” said Chris Leigh, 34, who runs Boscombe’s Total Repair Centre.

He was fined on Friday, when he left a car parked on a grass verge near his home on Holdenhurst Road.

Mr Leigh said he was loading at the time and had gone inside. He went down to Bournemouth council’s ticket office on Avenue Road and saw the van parked on the pavement outside the office.

He said: “Right on the pavement was the removal van because the ticketing staff were moving to the annex.

“The lady said to me ‘we are unable to do anything at the moment because of the move’.

“My reply was ‘I can see that and funnily enough that’s what I was doing this morning. One rule for you and another for us’.”

Mr Leigh also photographed the police car on May 7, opposite his computer repair business on Christchurch Road. “I see them do it all the time,” he said.

He stressed he was not trying to avoid his fine – he tried to pay if the day he got it.

Margaret Leslie, a Bournemouth Council operations manager, said: “Our parking services team have recently moved from Parkway House to the Town Hall Annexe and Braidley Road. “As part of this removal process an application was made to suspend the parking restrictions outside Parkway House to allow access for the removal vans.”

Inspector Chris Weeks, Bournemouth East Neighbourhood Inspector, said: “At the time this picture was taken Dorset Police were not responding to an emergency at this location.

“Dorset Police do not condone this breach in parking regulations.

“I have identified the individual officer responsible and given them formal words of advice.

“It provides an obvious reminder to all officers that our behaviour is under constant scrutiny and as such we must be professional and beyond reproach at all times.

“There is not one rule for the police and another rule for the public.”