FURIOUS York traders claim a council ban on their roadside shop sign is a "kick in the teeth" to trade.

Dringhouses butcher Ged Bell and hairdresser Maureen Cox were forced to remove a sign tied to a tree in Tadcaster Road, or face a hefty fine.

The placard was designed to publicise their shops in nearby Middlethorpe Grove to passing motorists.

But City of York Council told them it was dangerous, said it caused an obstruction and threatened them with a £2,500 fine unless they removed it.

Mr Bell, who runs the shop with his son Lee, told the Evening Press: "I'm very angry. The sign let people know where our shops were and generated a lot of business.

"A lot of family firms are closing at the moment so the council should be supporting us in every way they can. They should give us a pat on the back not a kick in the teeth."

"You don't have to be a rocket scientist to work out the only obstruction and danger is caused by the tree. Our sign is doing no one any harm."

Mrs Cox, who runs Samantha's Hair Studio next to the butcher's shop, said the council had not provided an alternative solution.

She said: "I'm devastated. I've only been in business for 18 months and the sign was really starting to drum up some trade.

"People want to use our services, but they don't know where we are. I don't know if we'll be able to survive without the sign."

A spokesman for City of York Council said: "We have to have regulation of such signing in the city to prevent the over-proliferation of notices which are simply environmentally unacceptable.

"The alternative is to have signs being erected everywhere and our highways would be like they are in the United States, and I am sure nobody wants that in a city like York.

"In this case, the sign has been erected next to one of York's busiest routes and was a potential dangerous, distraction for motorists. We also felt the sign was damaging to the tree."

Updated: 12:52 Saturday, June 09, 2001