A CAFE owner in Clitheroe has hit out at a Lancashire County Council campaign to "return the pavements to the people".

Workmen confiscated advertising boards from Castle Street in an early-morning blitz, leaving Angela Sampey of the Court Jester cafe hopping mad.

She said more than £200 worth of her boards were thrown on the back of a lorry and taken away.

She said: "I received a letter warning that if the boards were not removed then I would be prosecuted, but they never mentioned taking them away.

"I would welcome a court case. How can the council justify its own obstructions, like rubbish bins, but we aren't allowed our much-needed boards?

"My cafe is off the main street and visitors to the town only know where it is because of the boards. "They are essential to my business. It's one rule for one and another rule for another," she said.

Angela's boards were subsequently returned after she kicked up a fuss and refused to pay a £50 fine.

Newsagent and grocer David Brass, of Banana News in Castle Street, also said the crackdown was putting businesses under pressure at a time when they least needed it.

"There have been displays outside this shop for a century and that has got to count for something.

"The boards are very much part of our business and it's about time that councils started supporting traders instead of making life harder," he said.

County Coun Richard Toon said unauthorised advertising on the highway was causing "increasing concern".

"The boards can distract drivers and obstruct pedestrians, causing particular problems to the disabled, blind or partially-sighted, and those with prams.

"In the interests of road safety and free passage for pedestrians, Lancashire County Council is cracking down on illegal signs. We must return the pavements to the people," he said.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.