THE sun has set on York's new "shade shack" on its first day of trading.

Derek Allan launched the sunglasses stall, which takes the form of a bamboo hut on wheels, in York city centre yesterday - but was quickly told to "get out of town" by police.

Mr Allan said customers had been snapping up pairs of the £5 designer-inspired sunglasses when he was told to move on or face being arrested.

He said: "A police sergeant told me he was going to arrest me and confiscate my stock if I didn't get out of York."

Mr Allan, who owns a shop in Wetherby, which sells clothes, jewellery and sunglasses, said he had bought a Peddlers' Licence from the police station in Malton, where he lives, last week - which he believed gave him permission to trade in York city centre.

He said: "We are now in dispute about peddling in York because I have got a Peddlers' Licence and was told I could use it. They said it would be fine as long as I kept on moving. But I was wandering up and down Coney Street when I was told to leave. I can't see how I was upsetting anyone by being there. I felt like I had been told to get out of town by the sheriff."

But Sergeant Martin Metcalfe, of the Guildhall neighbourhood policing team, said a Peddlers' Licence did not make it legal to trade in York city centre.

He said: "We've had a massive problem over the last few years with illegal market traders from out of town.

"They have been mistakenly led to believe that if they have a peddlers' certificate then it's legal, but it's not. In the past, it hasn't been policed and people have been getting away with it but, now I'm the dedicated sergeant for the city centre, I have got time to do the things we couldn't do before."

He said the shade shack would need a Market Traders' Certificate, which costs £1,600, from City of York Council, as opposed to a £12.50 Peddlers' Licence, if it wishes to continue trading.

He said: "It's not fair on shopkeepers, who are paying thousands of pounds in rent, or proper market traders, who are paying £1,600 a year, if someone else comes down and trades on the streets for £12.50. You can be taken to court and have all your goods destroyed if you are trading illegally, even with a peddlers' certificate."