A major city centre store says it is losing business because of a mix-up on hundreds of Council clothing vouchers.

The 300 vouchers issued by Bradford Council for families who qualify for help includes the Bhs store in Broadway in a list of shops taking part in the scheme.

But the vouchers say the shop - which will eventually be pulled down to make way for the £300 million Broadway shopping scheme - has a closure date of May 2004. In fact, it will now remain open until next January.

Bhs store manager Tony Richards said: "We are now trying to make the best out of a bad situation and we want people to know we are still trading and they are welcome here.

"The next three weeks are key to people who are getting ready to send their children back to school. Without going into pounds and pence there has been a reduction in the number of people coming in and using the vouchers.

"We were initially due to close last summer and a decision was taken a number of months ago that that would not be the case."

A Bradford Council benefits spokesman said: "We were instructed by BHS to add an estimated closing date of May 2004 to the vouchers that were ordered in January 2004.

"A couple of months ago the Bradford branch asked us to amend the estimated closing date from May 2004 to January 2005.

"We explained that there would be a charge to reorder the stationery as it is pre-printed. The store agreed to get back to us to do this. The store did not come back to us and we told them that if we reordered the vouchers before January we would amend the details."