Scarborough councillor refuses to apologise for calling grandmother a ‘stupid old cow’

Coun Geoff Evans, a Lib Dem member of Scarborough Council, followed up his insult by slamming the phone down on 72-year-old Margaret Lister.

A complaint by Mrs Lister was later upheld by the council’s solicitor and Coun Evans was ordered to make a written apology.

But so far he has refused to issue the apology – and insists she should have said sorry first.

He is also said to have claimed he would have been treated better if he had “broken into Mrs Lister’s house and robbed her”.

Coun Evans, 65, said: “She got personal about me and that’s what led to the response.”

He added: “Mrs Lister was wrong in what she said and if she had said sorry first I would have apologised straight away.”

Mrs Lister, a retired pizza packer who counts Coun Evans as one of her local councillors, said: “I’m disgusted. I think I even voted for him but I certainly won’t be doing that again.

“All I wanted was an apology and I would have accepted it. I don’t think that’s the way to go around treating people who voted for you.

“Councillors are supposed to be there to help us and if you ask a question you expect a reasonable answer.”

Coun Norman Murphy, chairman of the council’s standards committee, said: “[Coun Evans’s] behaviour has been completely out of order and he has treated us with contempt. It is no way to speak to a woman of 72 and all he has to do is say sorry.”

Details have also emerged of a heated meeting between Coun Evans and council solicitor Mark Robinson during the investigation into the incident.

The councillor had agreed that a young girl who was on work experience be allowed to sit in on the interview.

Mr Robinson said in his report: “As I started to explain the complaint Coun Evans started shouting at me.

“He said the complaint was rubbish and lies. At this point, he stood up and began pointing and continued to shout.”

The irate councillor pressed on with his rant even when head of human resources, Roger Kaye, popped into the office, Mr Robinson said in his report.

Coun Evans stormed out of the office and the solicitor followed to ask him to apologise for the way he had behaved in the interview – and in front of the work experience girl.

The councillor refused and said he would put his case in person to the council’s standards committee.

Mr Robinson said that the committee might not allow him to speak because he had declined to co-operate with the initial stages of the investigation.

He later told the standards committee: “Coun Evans said he would not co-operate and I could ‘put that in my report’.

“He said the way he was currently being treated by the council was a disgrace and he would have been better treated if he had broken into Mrs Lister’s house and robbed her.”

Coun Evans has said not being allowed to put his side of the story to the standards committee took away his “human rights”.

Council bosses issued new politeness guidelines to staff following the incident – including a warning that people should not be mocked because of their age.

Mrs Lister, from Eastfield, Scarborough, made her ill-fated phone call to Coun Evans to ask why an item on her council tax had gone up.

At one stage in the conversation, she said: “You don’t know and you’re a councillor?”

“He raised his voice and said ‘You’re a stupid old cow you’ and slammed the phone down on me,” recalled Mrs Lister.

“I stood there with the phone in my hand. I looked at it for a few minutes and thought, ‘I don’t believe this’. I had been really nice to him.

“I tried to ring him back twice and all I got was the engaged tone. I was very upset. It was the first time I had rung a councillor for help.”

Robert Oxley, campaign director of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: “Coun Evans should apologise for his rudeness to his constituent rather than dragging the council through this bureaucratic and time-wasting rigmarole.

“Politicians might not always like what voters say about them but that is part and parcel of standing for elected office.

“The council doesn’t need pointless guidelines on politeness, just some basic manners from one of its councillors.”