A top police officer walked into a parish council meeting and apologised for being late - only to find a startled housewife doing the washing up in her kitchen!
Insp Graham Sutherland, in charge of operations at Abingdon Police Station, later apologised to the woman after finding the right venue nearby.
He said: "I was desperate not to be too late for this meeting. "Because I was running late, I said to my colleague 'You park the car and I will get out and go inside'.
"I walked through this open door and said 'Sorry I'm late' only to find I had walked into someone's private house and she was stood there doing the washing up. I hurriedly explained what I had done.
"I then went back later and apologised and she saw the funny side."
He added that the story also went down well at the parish council meeting itself.
The anecdote was revealed in an internal Abingdon Police newsletter.
Story date: Wednesday 07 April
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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