MORECAMBE traders say the city council broke promises over their enforced move for the punk festival.

They say that a planned switch to a nearby marquee, erected at a cost of £10,000, turned into a disaster.

Just 16 of more than 100 traders moved to the marquee, while others were forced to shell out to store their stock.

Festival Market traders association chairman, Colin Gibson, said: "The council promised us six men to help us move out on Tuesday night. They didn't turn up.

"They also promised us a van to move to the marquee, but that didn't turn up either.

They provided 42 portable toilets for the punks, but they wouldn't even give us one. We had to leave our stalls and walk half a mile to use the loo.

"When we got back into the market, the floor stank of beer and urine, the microwave, which we paid for ourselves, and the kettle had blown up. The council will be getting a bill for them.

"We are still trying to calculate the cost of having to move out. One of the traders had to pay £700 to move and store his stock. That's on top of the money he lost from not being able to trade.

"I talked to some punks and they said we shouldn't have been moved."

The city council said the punk festival brought more than 5,000 visitors and £1 million to the local economy.