HOTELIERS threatened to take the law into their own hands this week as anger grew over the security clampdown for the the Labour Party conference.

Business has been hit as security and parking restrictions are greater than ever in the wake of September 11.

Stephen Bozier, of the Tremadoc Hote, Dickson Road, said a group of hoteliers who are angry at having no parking facilities had met to discuss the cones clampdown.

"We will take them up and remove them and the police will have to arrest us for doing it," he said, claiming that the area of parking restrictions had been increased without notice, leaving some hotels without parking.

"If the police want to arrest me, they can arrest me. It will make a good headline -- 'Hotelier arrested for moving cones'."

He said that his hotel was empty this week because visitors could not park. Originally, he claimed, the restrictions were to end further north of the town, but cones had gone down outside his hotel without notice.

"It stinks. The police are walking all over us, the council won't do anything and we have to stand back and take it.

"The police come here and get a bonus and we just lose money."

A Lancashire Constabulary spokeswoman denied there had been any extensive late changes to restrictions.

"All the parking restrictions near the Imperial Hotel have been in the public domain for weeks, if not months."

Residents had been notified by the council and the details had been on the police website.

For security reasons, the only parking restrictions which had gone in without warning were near the Claremont Community Centre which was being used as a feeding station for police.

She also denied a rumour that security had been changed at the insistence of the Metropolitan Police.

At the Sussex Hotel in Pleasant Street, owner Chris Hewitt was feeling the effects of the larger police operation with cones outside his premises for the first time.

"I have got six spaces on my own car park, one resident's permit, and that's it," he complained.

Another hotelier close to the Imperial who asked not to be named said it had been a quiet week with people deterred by the lack of parking.

"I'm busy for the conference, but that only evens things out for the poor week. But there's nothing can be done. You just have to get on with it."

At Megabytes cafe and takeaway in Dickson Road, things went quiet with the arrival of the barrier around the Imperial.

"It's not been too bad until now," said proprietor Paul Ashton. "We have had quite a few policemen in. But now it's gone very quiet."

Some residents were also upset by the security clampdown.

"We've not been able to park outside our homes for a week and the conference doesn't start until next week," said one.