A FORMER town mayor and his wife have been given a ticking off over their daughter's application for a council staff job.

A local government standards committee has found that Brian and Maxine Crossland broke the code of conduct when staying in a meeting of Carterton Town Council while the issue of the job was being discussed.

But Mrs Crossland has come out fighting, branding the man who brought the action against them a 'serial complainer and modern day Don Quixote'.

That man is Paul Wesson, former town and district councillor, who also knows a thing or two about the law, having studied the subject for five years, and is an international election observer.

He complained to the national Standards Board that Mrs Crossland broke ten aspects of the code of conduct, and her husband four of them, in a council meeting last July.

Their daughter was an applicant for the job of administrative assistant at Carterton town hall, and they should have left the meeting.

The board decided it was not serious enough for them, and handed it down to the local standards committee of West Oxfordshire District Council.

A three-person panel has upheld that the Crosslands both breached only two of the issues relating to personal and prejudicial interest. They have not been fined or banned from public office, just told off. Also, their daughter did not get the job.

Mrs Crossland told the Witney Gazette: "This is a storm in a teacup. We were aware of the code of conduct, and looked it up carefully before we asked our questions in the council meeting about the process of the appointment.

"It was a genuine mistake, and we have apologised. This has, though, cost a lot of time and money. Mr Wesson has form as a serial complainer against town councillors. Perhaps he sees himself as a modern day Don Quixote."

Her husband added: "At the time, we did not believe we had any prejudicial interest at all. It was not done to influence any decisions about our daughter.

"People should realise that we get paid not a penny on the town council for what we do and the time we put in." A spokesman for the district council said that dealing with the complaint had taken ten complete days of an officer's time, as well as time and payment for standards committee members.

But Mr Wesson said: "I feel there should have been a penalty. If people believe they can get away like this, why should less experienced councillors bother with the code of conduct.

"I am not a serial complainer. If people are doing something wrong, then somebody should complain. It just happened to be me because nobody else picked it up."

*** Both Mr Crossland, Conservative, and Mr Wesson, Independent, are candidates in the Upavon ward elections for the town council on June 21.

Eight other candidates are standing for the five seats. They are: Adrian Coomber (Ind), Bob Edwards (Ind), Norman Macrae (Con), Philip Scott (Con), Sheila Stone (Con), Michael Townsend (Ind), Val Townsend (Ind), Becky Wesson (Ind).