Bradford psychics are fuming at "insulting" new laws which they claim belittle their powers.

Mediums, fortune tellers and faith healers, who claim to receive messages from beyond or tell the future through seances, tarot card readings and clairvoyance, fall foul of the legislation because they charge customers for their services.

Psychic mailings promising spiritualist services are estimated to have cost Britons £40 million in 2006-7, according to the Office of Fair Trading.

Many say their powers are inherited along their blood line, others cite a supernatural experience as being the trigger for their gift. But either way, psychics must now tell their customers what they offer is not experimentally proven, and must be branded "entertainment only".

Psychics must prove they did not mislead, coerce or take advantage of vulnerable customers. Some mediums fear the stricter laws under the Consumer Protection Regulations make them easy targets for legal action from dissatisfied customers.

Shipley-based spiritual medium Susan Golden, 43, finds the new regulations a smear of her talents.

She said: "It's an insult to us, but at the same time it will not worry the real clairvoyance mediums like myself.

"I have been doing this for 24 years and I'm confident in my abilities. I don't class myself as entertainment but I may have to pop a disclaimer on the back of my cards as legal protection.

"I see this as the Government leading up to charging for a licence. This is my full-time job and I don't earn as much as people might expect."

Psychic, Tara King, 65, of Holme Wood, Bradford, agreed.

She said: "I don't class myself as entertainment and neither do my customers.

"People choose to come for guidance and are fully aware of what they are going into. I wouldn't dream of saying "don't take it seriously" because it eradicates the reason why people come to me in the first place."

Carole McEntee-Taylor, 50, of the Spiritual Workers Association, said: "They are turning our religion into a consumer transaction. We will be legally bound to say we can't guarantee the results and that it's an experiment. We will have to tell them not to take it seriously - that it's entertainment.

"It's ridiculous. They are trying to make us deny what we believe in.

"We don't believe this is an experiment. We're being asked to lie to stay within the law. I think people will laugh when we say it."

Medium Nigel Mortimer, 49, of Keighley, said some good would come of the law.

He says he became aware of alternative communication powers after a UFO sighting above his house in Otley in 1980.

He said: "I'm working as some sort of antennae in a genuine way and I feel I'm giving a service.

"This new law might sift out the wheat from the chaff but I feel sorry for the genuine people involved in this.

"There are a lot of misleading psychics out there that know they have some sort of ability but they exaggerate it."