A FULL investigation into the running of the council elections in Waddon in May has been ordered by a High Court judge.

The decision by Mr Justice John Griffith-Williams has been hailed as a victory for democracy by the Labour opposition leader on Croydon Council, Tony Newman.

But council leader Mike Fisher has branded the legal challenge as a "a waste of people's time and money."

The challenge was brought by Labour's defeated Waddon council candidate, David Christison, who has been granted legal aid to fight the case.

The High Court heard on Wednesday that one polling station in the ward closed early and inadequate staffing had led to long queues with some people being unable to vote before polling ended. It was claimed these factors could have affected the result.

An election commissioner will now be appointed to hear the case in Croydon. That is likely to take place in the autumn, and could last up to five days.

Cllr Newman said: "This at least guarantees that the many people who were frustrated in not getting to cast their vote, will get the opportunity to have their voices heard."

Cllr Fisher said council taxpayers would have to foot a large bill for preparing for the case.

He said there was no evidence of a polling station closing early and even if queues stopped some people voting the result would not have been altered. Cllr Fisher said: "The nearest Labour candidate was 350 votes behind the Conservatives and Mr Christison was nearly 500 votes short."

If the election commissioner rules in Mr Christison's favour he could order a re-run of the election.