Lawyers in the Director of Public Prosecutions department brought shame on their office by dodging paying their parking tickets, the United Bermuda Party said yesterday.

Rather than upholding the law, Crown lawyers who ran up huge debts were exploiting a flaw in the system because they knew parking offenders weren't being prosecuted, said Shadow Whip John Barritt.

The result was that people's confidence in the justice system was eroded, said Mr. Barritt, who is himself a lawyer.

And claims from Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Kulandra Ratneser that his staff ? one of whom ran up a bill of more that $16,000 in unpaid tickets ? said they needed to park in town for their jobs was "ridiculous", said Shadow Attorney General Trevor Moniz.

"Someone (in the DPP's office) said they were entitled to the same defence as members of the public or members of the Bar," said Mr. Barritt during the Budget debate in the House of Assembly on the Justice Department.

"I thought something was wrong in the system (in the prosecution of non-payers) and if that is the case it is even more of an outrage".

These lawyers were supposed to uphold the law with integrity and "their job, if there was an error, was to bring it to the attention of someone in the department and have it corrected forthwith, not continue to take advantage of it.

"That's where the dereliction of duty and it lowers the confidence in the system."

Mr. Moniz said it was a "huge embarrassment" that some members of the DPP's chambers had not paid their tickets, and he dismissed Mr. Ratneser's talk of lawyers saying they had to park in town as "ridiculous".

"Who is going to have respect for people who have the responsibility for enforcing the law if the people responsible for enforcing the law are not enforcing it themselves," said Mr. Moniz.

"We were told (by Mr. Ratneser) that the matter was settled. We weren't told that the tickets were paid.

"Settled, says compromise, and that leaves a bitter taste in my mouth and in the mouths of Bermudians. And those members of Chambers did themselves no service."