A horse-drawn carriage operator has claimed City of York Council street cleaners swore at him because of horse dung.

Ray Smith, who drives his carriage around York, says the cleaners made derogatory comments to carriage drivers, telling them to clean their own horse's waste up - in front of passengers and passing public.

But City of York Council today insisted it had received no formal complaints about the conduct of its cleaners.

Last week the Evening Press revealed how the council was investigating ways to reduce the amount of horse dung on the streets, including devices referred to as "nappies".

These are as bag designed to catch the dung, fixed to either the harness or the shafts of the carriage.

Mr Smith said today: "There is obviously great resentment from the council street cleaners which gives rise to the fact they are giving the public unnecessary cause for complaints by repeatedly leaving dung for long periods of time. The drivers have all witnessed street cleaners walking past and ignoring it."

But the council spokeswoman said: "We always try to work with all the city centre partners, including horse cab drivers, to keep the city centre clean and tidy for residents and tourists.

"We have certainly never had any formal complaints about members of our street cleaning team and we are currently looking at ways of minimising the problems caused by horse droppings."

Dave Bonner, deputy general convenor for the York UNISON branch, said he was confident cleaners would not shout at drivers. He said: "Cleaners would not shout at the drivers. I know every one of them personally and they're one of the best crews we've got. They're very polite."

"To be fair this wouldn't be a problem if carriage drivers cleaned it up themselves. We have had instances where drivers have shouted at the cleaners, telling them where to clean up. That kind of attitude doesn't help." Mr Smith said he had also received a letter from the RSPCA, which suggested that "dung catchers" could cause skin contamination on horses.

Dick Haswell, the council's head of licensing and regulation, said the council had spoken to the RSPCA about the "nappies".

He said: "If the licensing committee agrees to a trial project for dung catchers we will work closely with the RSPCA, other animal welfare organisations and local veterinary surgeons to ensure that the final solution does not cause any harm or distress to the horses."

Updated: 10:36 Thursday, June 26, 2003