Maldon District Council leader, Adrian Fluker outraged after his 'campaign bus' is vandalised outside Southminster polling station in 'politically motivated hate crime'

Adrian Fluker, had parked the vehicle, a silver Vauxhall Panel van at Southminster Community Hall in Station Road as a final promotion drive ahead of the district council elections on Thursday.

Mr Fluker, who was re-elected as councillor for Southminster had placed four signs in Tory party blue, stating; 'Vote for Adrian Fluker Supporting The Residents of Southminster' on the van, which he described as his 'campaign bus'.

He claimed a suspect had entered the polling station to vote before he approached the vehicle and "scraped the fours signs off, causing damage to panels of the van".

Mr Fluker added "the shreds of the signs were left on the carriage way below the van."

He was not at the scene when the incident took place.

Mr Fluker received a call from his colleagues at Maldon District Council after he said a member of staff had witnessed the incident.

The leader of the council described the incident as a "politically motivated hate crime", however Essex Police said the incident did not qualify as such.

He added: "In a modern world political, ethnic, religious or gender based hate crime is totally unacceptable.

"Whilst I accept that quite a lot comes with the territory when canvassing politically and I don’t have a problem with that, causing criminal damage to someone’s property, regardless of how upset you might be about political issues is not acceptable.

"In this instance it has resulted in several hundred pounds worth of damage being caused to the vehicle.

"It’s also worth noting that the perpetrator left the resulting litter strewn across the road for someone else to clean up.

"The incident has been reported to the police and they are dealing with it accordingly’."

Mr Fluker retained his council seat at last week's elections, receiving 410 votes.

Although he did win back his seat and the Conservative group retained its majority, Mr Fluker received more than 150 votes less than Southminster's Independent councillor, Brian Beale, who received 576 votes.

Non-aligned councillor, John Anderson lost out in the election, receiving 354 seats.

Just over a quarter of the population in Southminster came out to vote at this year's election.

A police spokesman added: "We are investigating reports of criminal damage to a van in Station Road, Southminster, at about 7.15am on Thursday 2 May.

"Anyone with information is asked to call the Maldon local policing team on 101 quoting reference 42/69548/19."