Residents of the thriving market town of Kirkbymoorside are furious at their town's absence from British Telecom maps.

The town - eight miles north-west of Pickering - is known as the "gateway to the moors".

But that fact seems to have escaped British Telecom, who have infuriated residents and civic leaders by regularly missing the town off the maps on the front of telephone directories.

Town councillor Sheila Ridley said she was "astonished" when she saw that Kirkbymoorside had been ignored by BT.

She said: "I don't know why Kirkbymoorside was missed off the map on the front cover of the Scarborough and Yorkshire Coast phone book.

"But I would certainly like BT to put the situation right with the next edition.

"I was pleased to see that Pockley, with a population of less than 100, was included, but astonished that Kirkbymoorside, with a population of around 3,000, wasn't.

"This is a market town just like Helmsley and Pickering and should have been on the map."

Town Council colleague Nigel Richardson said Kirkbymoorsiders have confronted BT about the problem in the past, only to be told there are too many letters in their town's name to fit on the front of the directory.

He said he feels that Kirkbymoorside is treated like a "second class town" when compared to Ryedale neighbours Helmsley, Pickering and Malton.

Coun Richardson said: "It really makes me angry. I get very cross about it indeed.

"We are a self-contained market town, with all the facilities the people need here to be self-sufficient, but we are ignored so much it is ridiculous.

"And while British Telecom say they can't fit the name of our town on to the front of the books, they always manage to get Helmsley and Pickering on don't they?

"BT aren't the only ones though. You watch the local news reports. If anything good has happened, say in Wombleton, then it is Wombleton, near Helmsley, or Pickering.

"But if it is something bad that has happened, it is Wombleton, near Kirkbymoorside. It's ridiculous."

In response, a BT spokesman tried to reassure residents the company has nothing against Kirkbymoorside.

The spokesman added: "We understand the pride the people of Kirkbymoorside have in their town, and it's omission from the directory map is not a slight on the town, or it's people."

The spokesman added: "The map is simply a schematic of the area covered by the directory.

"We can reassure people that their directory entries are still included."