BLACKPOOL'S mayor says Sooty needs to sweep up his ideas after a TV rap over sniffing aromatic oils.

Sooty, the cuddly bear puppet who was made mayor of Blackpool for the day on his 50th birthday last year, was censured by the Independent Television Commission following an episode in which he sniffed aromatherapy oils from bottles. The ITC, which investigated 11 complaints, said this "dangerous behaviour" could lead to copycat action by children - especially worrying since the containers looked like medicine bottles.

Blackpool Mayor Henry Mitchell said: "Sooty is a media figure and as such is more important than I am. But I made him mayor for the day because he was born here and I really do think he should stop and think about the knock-on effects on the kiddies.

"He does have an audience of young children and he really should be setting an example."

Coun Mitchell's four-year-old grandson Alexander is a Sooty fan.

A spokeswoman for Sooty said: "There were only 11 complaints out of 5m viewers and we're absolutely horrified at the way this has snowballed, it's all a bit of a storm in a teacup.

"We were really concerned about getting over a health message, and showing how natural products could be used instead of drugs. Needless to say Sooty will not be doing anything like this again in the future."

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