Three Trowbridge town councillors snubbed the Mayor’s civic ball on Saturday and went for a meal.

Cllr Roger Andrews said he was upset at having to buy a £25 ticket for his wife for the event at the Civic Centre, which helped the town’s Storehouse Foodbank and counselling service Wiltshire RASAC.

He and Cllrs John Knight and Nick Blakemore went for dinner at Bruschetta. Cllr Andrews said: “We don’t do this job for the cost of a civic dinner, as it isn’t even a small reward, but it is an insult that town councillors’ partners had to pay to attend.” His companions were tight-lipped on why they were not there. Altogether 11 councillors out of 21 missed the event.

Mayor David Halik decided a free ticket would not allow councillors to bring a free guest. Instead, he reduced prices from £35 to £25 and raised £1,000.

He said: “I wanted to raise as much as possible for charity and reduce the price to allow more members of public to come. I can fully understand if some councillors and some of their partners felt this didn’t fully acknowledge their efforts.”