A Dartmouth councillor should issue an “unequivocal” apology to a member of the public and two council officers following a row over the booking of a car park at last year’s Christmas market, a panel from South Hams District Council (SHDC) has said.

The Code of Conduct panel heard that Cllr Dawn Shepherd was verbally abusive towards the three individuals and that she used a stream of expletives during telephone exchanges.

The incident dates back to December 15, 2023, when the complainant, identified as Mr J. Wotton, accused Cllr Shepherd of using offensive language and abusing her position as he was setting up the event.

A seven-page report from investigating officer Simon Mansell included evidence from council officers Jude McMinn, who was upset by Cllr Shepherd’s “aggressive approach”, and Ali McGrigor, who described the councillor’s tone as “intimidating”.

A redacted transcript of a later telephone conversation showed Cllr Shepherd demanding to know why Mr Wotton had been allowed to book the car park.

She said: “Who the (expletive deleted) has allowed this (expletive deleted) (expletive deleted) of a jumper man to turn people away from the market car park. He has no (expletive deleted) right to do this.”

Addressing her remarks to Ms McMinn, Cllr Shepherd added: “You all know (expletive deleted) well what I do in Community Corner, you have a list in the office so don’t give me that (expletive deleted).”

Cllr Shepherd, who did not attend the hearing, countered by saying she was met with “absolute chaos” when she arrived at the car park at 9am, with people “beeping their horns” to get in.

She could not recall the calls with the council officers, but was quoted as saying that Ms McMinn’s statement and that of her friends felt like “another vexatious complaint against her”.

She said the people who ran the market on the day did not have the authority to stop her going into work, and that despite being told this “several times”, they continued to block access to the market.

Mr Mansell concluded that while he understood Cllr Shepherd’s frustration, it did not excuse her approach or the language she used.

“There is a need as an elected official to be able to deal with pressure in and out of the Council Chamber and not to let personal frustrations take over,” he said.

Mr Mansell also pointed out that Cllr Shepherd gave the impression she was acting as a councillor at the time of the allegations, whereas on the day of the incident she was on her way to the local charity in her private capacity.

He found that Cllr Shepherd had broken the code of conduct while acting as a Dartmouth councillor, contravening a number of provisions, including treating the public, council employees and other councillors with respect, adding that she brought the role of councillor into disrepute.

The panel instructed Cllr Shepherd to take a refresher course on the code of conduct and that she should be censured as a result of her behaviour.

Cllr Shepherd has been asked to comment.