john mayerJohn Mayer has said he thinks paparazzi photographers should be required to drive in marked cars while in pursuit of celebrities.

Speaking at a hearing at Los Angeles City Hall about the growing problem caused by the snappers yesterday, John said: “I don’t sit before you today to ask that you ban the paparazzi. I’m asking you to regulate it. Officialize it. Tax it. Legitimize it.

“You got a rock star out of bed at 8 in the morning. This must be really important. It’s the wild west right now.

“I don’t want to beg the city of Los Angeles to give me 1987 back. I love being a famous musician in 2008… This is about safety.”

He suggested that in addition to a large “P” on number plates, all photographers would need to be registered and a law should “govern an acceptable filming distance from an unwilling subject [to keep] everybody safe and misbehaviour accountable.”

However, LAPD chief William J Bratton has said he’d rather not see the police involved in the matter.

He’s quoted as telling television station KNBC-TV yesterday: “If you notice, since Britney started wearing clothes and behaving; Paris is out of town not bothering anybody, thank God; and, evidently, Lindsay Lohan has gone gay, we don’t seem to have much of an issue.

“If the ones that attract the paparazzi behave in the first place, like we expect of anybody, that solves about 90% of the problem. The rest we can deal with.

“So as far as all this grandstanding and foolishness, waste of city time on this issue - and the fact that I felt aggravated enough about it to interrupt my workout to come over and set the record straight, LAPD has no intention of participating in this farce.”