A PARISH councillor running in the Somerset County Council elections has hit out against vandals who have defaced his posters. 

Promotional images that have been put up around Bishop's Hull and Taunton West encouraging constituents to vote for John Hunt in the May elections have been drawn on. 

The newly-decorated posters have left Mr Hunt feeling disheartened, but he says he can see the funny side. 

He said: "Friends have said that the photo on my election signboards would comfortably win a gurning contest and clearly the vandals agree

"It’s their opinion that I look better wearing glasses and sporting a moustache, and they may well have a point.

"I’m trying to see the funny side of this needless vandalism, what else can I do?

"I’m working really hard on my election campaign, standing in the Somerset County Council division of Bishop’s Hull & Taunton West and have spent most of the last week erecting sign-boards on resident’s properties, only to find some of them defaced already."

Mr Hunt says he's sure that the drawings on the sign were meant as a joke, probably by school children having a laugh, but standing as an Independent makes it harder for him to easily replace them.

He added: "Political party candidates have everything paid for them, standing as an Independent means that I pay for everything out of my own pocket. So defacing these signs costs me money, time and additional work.

"But my rant is over, I’m off to buy some glasses and grow a moustache. If nothing else, it’ll save me having to renew my signs

The elections take place across the county on May 4.