A parish councillor in Solihull has been suspended from his position for three months after an investigation revealed he had failed to treat others with respect.
Following a complaint against Coun Patrick Nash, who chaired Balsall Common Parish Council, a standards hearing panel ruled he had breached the members’ code of conduct in two sections.
The Solihull Council panel found that he had also brought his office as councillor and his authority into disrepute.
The panel heard during a heated dispute over the village hall, which was being used as a day nursery, Coun Nash put the phone down on nursery owner Jyoti Jaspal and her husband, telling her to “put it in your pipe and smoke it”.
On another occasion he told the couple he would not have conversations over the phone with them.
The dispute revolved around the couple’s payments to hire the hall and remedial works carried out to it after it flooded.
The panel ruled Coun Nash had not breached two further sections of the code, relating to bullying and intimidation.
He has been suspended for three months from January 28, during which time he will not be allowed to attend meetings, vote or act as a councillor. He has been ordered to apologise to the complainants.
Coun Nash has the right of appeal against the decision.
