A MACCLESFIELD councillor was arrested and locked up for eight hours after ranting at a policeman during a traffic jam.

Barrister Marc Asquith, 51, was on his way to court when the heated confrontation took place at the roadside during morning rush hour.

He was later fined £80 for a public order offence. Coun Asquith has since admitted he was first warned by the officer, but was then arrested after calling him ‘a ...... idiot."

The Cheshire East councillor said: "It wasn’t my finest hour.

"I think I asked the police officer what the ‘....... hell’ was going on.

"I will concede freely that my language was fruity and robust because I couldn’t conceal my annoyance.

"The altercation lasted about 45 seconds. He was ever so keen to arrest me.

"I accept that swearing at a policeman is not the way a councillor should behave.

"But on this occasion I plead justification – and I didn’t get a criminal conviction."

He was locked in a police cell before being given a fixed penalty fine on his release several hours later.

The incident began when Coun Asquith, a school governor for Alderley Edge Primary School and Wilmslow High School, was stuck in a tailback on the A34 in Wilmslow on Friday morning.

As a councillor who helped green-light plans for the new bypass he was annoyed about the traffic, caused by a survey in Wilmslow.

Workers had closed one lane at the Polar Ford roundabout to carry out a road survey.

The barrister, who works at Young Street Chambers in Manchester, was on his way to prosecute at Rochdale Magistrates’ Court.

He specialises in civil cases such as personal injury claims after car accidents.

He pulled over in his Volvo estate and challenged a highways worker over the lane closure.

A police officer walked over to investigate and an argument broke out.

"I was aware he cautioned me. I was walking away and I called him a ------- idiot."

Coun Asquith, a Cheshire East Councillor for Macclesfield Forest, of Carlisle Street, Alderley Edge, was then arrested.

"He threatened to put me in handcuffs. I wasn’t going to go anywhere! He put me in the wagon and I was sitting in a bare, empty cell all day.

"I helped get this bypass accepted, when I was a county councillor. You can understand why I got excited about the traffic issues.

"Frankly, I don’t think the officer liked being questioned and scrutinised by a member of the public when he was behaving like an idiot."

A spokeswoman for Cheshire Police said: "A 51-year-old man from Wilmslow was arrested for a section 5 public order offence on the A34 in Wilmslow at 8.57am.

"He was taken to Middlewich custody suite where he was given a fixed penalty notice (fine) for the offence."