STREET advertising boards have been seized from Saltaire’s streets in a day-long purge as part of a Bradford Council crackdown.

Businesses in Victoria Road, Saltaire Road and Titus Street were all hit hard on Tuesday when council workers enforcing a trial ban on “A-Boards” and other street furniture swooped on different locations.

Traders have previously petitioned against the controversial initiative aimed at making walkways for blind and disabled people by removing such obstacles.

The project is taking place in Saltaire, Leeds Road, Bradford and Ilkley and may be expanded.

At upmarket bar and restaurant Don’t Tell Titus in Victoria Road, a sign board usually propped against its frontage were swiftly removed without warning, said manager Rajan Herar.

“In the letter sent to us by the council it said boards would have yellow stickers put on the ten days in advance as a warning they would be taken.

“But it didn’t have any such stickers. It’s not an A board - just a board leant against the window.

“And now they want £200 to give it back - it’s ridiculous.”

Mr Herar said the council had itself shrunk the pavement space.

“They’ve gone and put a disgusting bin right by the edge of the kerb and if anything, it will be that which will really get in people’s way.”

Ros Seton of nearby Saltaire Sandwiches said: “It’s ludicrous, people are even having to remove ornamental little trees.

“Bradford Council are trying to make the place so drab and unexciting.

Around the corner at the Spa Shop run by Raman Lad for 25 years, a new Health Lottery sign was removed.

“They just ran up, picked it up and legged it back to their van,” Mr Lad said.

"I’m certainly not paying £200 to get it back, they can just put it in the tip.”

At the popular Nisa store on Saltaire Road, three signs were removed on Tuesday said Roger Singh, who’s family have had the business for twenty years.

“I rang the police, but they wouldn’t take any details as they said I knew who’d taken them,” Mr Singh said.

“I did have a yellow sticker on one sign and I moved that one back over my boundary.”

Signs taken from outside his shop were one for the National Lottery, a Paypoint sign and another for Wall’s Ice Cream.

“Small shops like ours are really struggling at the moment and we depend very much on passing traffic seeing the signs.”

A Bradford Council spokesman said: "The removal of advertising boards in Saltaire earlier this week was carried out as part of the Council’s trial of a zero tolerance approach to pavement obstructions and all businesses in the area of the trial in Saltaire were issued with a notice of the introduction of the ban in December. 

"Prior to the Council removing any advertisement board businesses are issued with a warning letter and a warning notice is affixed to advertising board. In the case of the businesses concerned we have examined our records and confirmed that this process has been followed.

"However, on this occasion it appears that a warning notice was not affixed to the advertising board for Don’t Tell Titus.  We will therefore be arranging to return the advertising board to the business concerned as this was incorrectly removed by our enforcement team."

The spokesman aqdded that "obstruction by advertising boards of the public highway is an offence under the Highways Act 1980. 

"Under the Act the Council have a statutory duty under Section 130 to ensure the safe operation of the highway and exert and protect the rights of the public to the use and enjoyment of the highway."

The Council’s decision to introduce the advertising board ban in Saltaire was approved by the Council’s Executive last October.