The frustration being felt by some Bingley residents over traffic problems and noise nuisance caused by the town's regular Sunday car-boot sales is understandable enough.

Sales of this type have soared in popularity in recent years. They are a sort of throwback to what markets used to be about, giving people an opportunity to pass on their unused or surplus property to someone else who can make use of it - although when dealers and traders become involved the nature of the event can become radically changed.

But whether they stick strictly to the true spirit of the event or become car-boot and commercial-market hybrids, these sales need to be run so as to cause the minimum of inconvenience and disruption. That unfortunately can't be said to be the case in Bingley, where even holding the event on Sundays cannot avoid traffic problems.

The town is blighted by traffic every working day but it is also busy at the weekends with people heading for the Dales and the Lake District. The heavy market traffic is proving to be the last straw for members of Bailey Hills Action Group.

Even if, as Councillor David Heseltine says, the market cannot now be legally stopped, it is only right that all possible measures to minimise the disturbance to local people should be considered. Their protest petition must also re-open the debate on the future of the market site, which has already been rejected for a supermarket. However, it is surely too valuable a piece of land to continue to be used as a one-day-a-week market indefinitely.