A CAR used to tow a lifeboat to help raise funds for charity was given a parking ticket in Bolton town centre.

Despite having police permission to tow the RNLI lifeboat into a pedestrianised area, a parking attendant slapped the ticket on the windscreen of the 4x4 vehicle.

The vehicle had been used to tow the lifeboat into place to help publicise the charity's annual fundraising flag day.

But while a team of flag sellers looked on in amazement the parking warden filled out a £60 ticket.

Despite charity workers insisting they had permission from the police to park there, the warden refused to relent.

Organiser Tom Ridyard was left stunned after the car was booked in Market Street, behind the Royal Bank of Scotland, at around 1.45pm on Saturday.

"It's disgusting," he said. "We have police permission to come here every year but this guy just walked up and told me he was going to book me and said he was more important than the police.

"I was just gobsmacked. When he said he was going to give us a ticket, I thought it was a wind-up until he actually put it on the windscreen and walked off.

"We go all over Bolton every year at different events and raise £20,000 for the RNLI. There's nobody out there who doesn't know what the charity stands for and we never have any problems."

Mr Ridyard, who is the chairman of the Farnworth, Kearsley and Bolton branch of the RNLI, has already contacted the council to appeal against the issuing of the ticket.

He said: "We'll contest it and if we lose then it will have to come out of the charity's funds and that would be sad. It takes us a long time to raise £60. I asked the police in Bolton, telling them that we needed permission to tow the lifeboat into the pedestrian area and they told me they had no objection. I also wrote to the council and told them what we planned."

When contacted by the Bolton Evening News, a council spokesman said: "No-one contacted us and as the vehicle was in a pedestrianised area, our attendant quite rightly issued a parking ticket. However, on this occasion we will cancel the ticket."