NO further action will be taken against an Inverclyde councillor who assaulted a council traffic warden.

The local authority has condemned any violence towards members of staff but confirmed the matter involving Innes Nelson and one of their parking enforcement officers is now at an end

The SNP councillor was charged with assaulting a warden on Cathcart Street in October 2017 after being given a ticket.

Having initially told the Tele in October last year that the 'charge was dropped', we revealed on Thursday how Mr Nelson had in fact paid the parking officer £200 compensation after accepting an offer from the procurator fiscal to avoid court proceedings.

Council SNP group leader, Councillor Chris McEleny, had made the same statement at the time.

The council has confirmed that it will take no further action against Mr Nelson.

A spokesman said: "Any act of violence or aggression towards staff is entirely and wholly inappropriate and, as an employer, we will seek to take appropriate action. "The council, as both an employer and the organisation responsible for parking enforcement, was informed of the outcome from the procurator fiscal's office. "While Mr Nelson is an elected representative, any action reported to police authorities or subsequently to the procurator fiscal is done so in his capacity as a private citizen in exactly the same way as any other individual. "This is done in an impartial way and the public position of the individual does not make any difference to the action we would carry out. "The outcome is set out fully in the procurator fiscal's letter and therefore it would be inappropriate for the council to take any action against Mr Nelson in his capacity as a councillor."

The Tele contacted SNP HQ for a response and asked if any action will be taken against Cllr Nelson, but they had nothing to add to the remarks which were issued by local group leader, Mr McEleny, last week.

He said: "As stated in October, the procurator fiscal did not take criminal action against Councillor Nelson. "Innes has been a hard working councillor since 2009, and as such, we were pleased to welcome him back into the SNP group."