How to get round a council ad ban: Go by bike!

Fed up with officials taking away boards he puts by the road near addresses where his fitters are working and making him pay £50 to get them back, Ken Rose is going to use a tandem instead. As a “company vehicle” he hopes the bike will keep him one step ahead of officials.

Mr Rose, who has owned kitchens manufacturer Roses of Beverley and used boards with no problems for 11 years, said: “I just want them to stop bothering me. More than anything I just want to be free to carry on my business. I don’t have the time to write letters or reason with them.”

Trouble flared when Mr Rose put a sign up in Leconfield on November 17 and in Driffield on November 26 prompting threats of legal action.

Both times Mr Rose paid £50 to recover them. On January 17 he put a sign up in Molescroft, only for it to go within two hours. This time he didn’t have to pay a fine, but got a verbal warning.

He said: “They said they’d had a complaint from a local resident, but it turned out to be a councillor.”

On February 11 he was back in Molescroft installing a kitchen and put a sign up at Longcroft Park. “On the Friday I got a phone call to say I had an hour to move the board and said if not they would confiscate it.”

East Riding Council still has a board picked up near Shiptonthorpe on Saturday, February 12.

The authority insists it hasn’t victimised Mr Rose, saying it has sent 1,000 letters out over illegal signs, which could cause an obstruction or distraction, in the last five years. A spokesman said: “If Mr Rose puts the tandem on a road junction, as he has been doing with his boards, it will be removed, as it is there for advertising purposes.”