THE Mayor of Barnet was treated to free meals and a £350 Harvey Nichols hamper by a company later awarded a contract by an authority he chairs.

Councillor Brian Coleman, also London Assembly Member for Barnet and Camden, received the hospitality over the last two years from AssetCo.

On June 25 AssetCo was awarded a contract to provide emergency cover for the London Fire Brigade by the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA), which Mr Coleman chairs.

The five-year contract was won after a competitive tendering process and there is no suggestion that the hospitality and that process are linked.

When Mr Coleman was contacted by the Times Series for comment on why he accepted the meals and hamper he hung up the telephone.

The register of hospitality and gifts received by members of the LFEPA is not publicly available but was obtained by Adam Bienkov, author of the Tory Troll blog, under the Freedom of Information Act.

The register shows that between September 2007 and January this year Mr Coleman received 13 free meals.

Two of these, and the Harvey Nichols Hamper, were courtesy of AssetCo chief executive John Shannon, and a further lunch courtesy of AssetCo.

AssetCo is currently eight years into a 20-year contract to buy and maintain all of the front-line equipment used by the London Fire Brigade.