Tory councillor living in fear after car is torched in suspected arson attack

A Conservative Party councillor whose car was set on fire in an apparent arson attack has said she is living in fear - and suspects she is being targeted after spearheading a clampdown on rogue parking.

Lesley Clarke, 73, who has served on local authorities for more than 30 years, is pushing for tougher rules governing second-hand cars she says are being parked “indiscriminately” in Buckinghamshire, where she lives.

The issue is a problem in the street in which she lives, in High Wycombe, with cars sometimes left on double-yellow lines for months, prompting her to call for more parking wardens to be deployed.

Since she highlighted the problem, two cars on her driveway have been set on fire. Both incidents are being investigated by police, although no arrests have been made.

In each case, the vehicle was gutted, and Mrs Clarke fears things could get even worse.

The first apparent attack, in December 2023, awoke her husband Marten, 76, who is himself a former councillor. On investigation, he discovered his car bonnet ablaze.

He called the fire brigade who extinguished the flames, but not before the car was written off.

In a second incident, last week, Mrs Clarke’s bonnet was likewise set on fire using an accelerant, with the vehicle also likely to be written off.

Taking a swipe at Thames Valley Police, she told the Daily Telegraph: “Obviously I’m worried that it might happen again, it’s happened twice now in five months.

“We were told that we would have a marker on our address for six months, and it’s only the fifth month when this happened.

“What happened to them not coming out on the first night? And they only came out on the second night because the fire authority control room insisted that a police vehicle actually attended the scene.”

Mrs Clarke, former leader of High Wycombe district council, the local authority which has now been unified into Tory-run Buckinghamshire Council, has served on local authorities since 1991.

She has previously suffered abuse on social media, including comments such as “we know where she lives, let’s go and get her”.

Mrs Clarke said: “Buckinghamshire Council are finding it very difficult to employ civil enforcement officers, our traffic wardens, and what we’re really experiencing is that we’ve got a lot of people who have these ‘we-buy-any-car’-type businesses and they don’t have anywhere to park, so they park them on the streets.

“We can have six or seven cars all from the same people parked bumper to bumper on a residential street, so they don’t care, and trying to get any persistence in getting them moved is very difficult.”

Suggesting she may have been singled out, she added: “If I end up losing a third car because I’m talking about this, you know that’s what it is that I’m being targeted for.”

Mr Clarke, a former councillor, said he was now “fearful of a Molotov cocktail” or a “firebomb through the window”.

He added: “The police do not appear to be taking it as seriously as we think they should.”

A spokesman for Thames Valley Police said: “We are investigating an arson at an address in High Wycombe, at around 10.35pm on May 23.

“A man set alight a vehicle parked on a residential driveway using an accelerant before running away.”

“The arson is believed to be linked to another arson at the same address on Dec 20 last year, where another vehicle was also set alight at around 11pm, but we are keeping an open mind.”