JOGGERS and walkers are defying foot and mouth restrictions by returning to Ilkley Moor, according to nearby residents.

In the past week, residents on Crossbeck Road, whose houses overlook the moor, say they have seen people blatantly ignoring the warning signs on gates and heading for Ilkley Tarn and White Wells.

Simon Ince, 32, said he confronted a jogger he spotted running around the tarn. "I looked out of my window to see a female jogger running up the path to the tarn, which she ran around several times and returned down the path," he said.

"As she ran past I shouted to her that the moor was closed. I had no response so I repeated myself and she said: 'I haven't been on the moor, I've been on the tarmac'."

Mr Ince, a teacher, said he was angry with the woman for ignoring the warning signs.

"I understand that the chances of this jogger spreading foot and mouth are very, very, very slim. However, she passed through a gate with a clear foot and mouth warning on it. The day after she was up there four or five sheep walked on the path.

"Everyone in Ilkley thinks this path is out of bounds. Why should she be able to run on it? If she was only on the tarmac why not run on residential pathways? It was an outrageous act of selfishness."

On Tuesday night Mr Ince saw another jogger heading in the same direction. Amazed, he went down to the gate to check the sign. "It says no access to the moor. I think what they (the joggers) are claiming is that it's tarmac. But obviously there's still sheep on there. I can't understand why people would risk going up there."

Neighbour Christine Longthorn was also shocked when she glanced out of her kitchen window and saw walkers ambling across the moor.

"There were three of them - they looked like hikers to be honest - trundling across the moor. I thought, 'oh, are the moors open?'

"It's thought they had come from the Cow and Calf towards White Wells. If they had come up from the Cow and Calf area there are notices all over the place. But some people are a law unto themselves."

Danny Jackson, Bradford Council's Countryside Service team leader, said larger signs had been put up to warn people that restrictions were still in place. "There have been one or two cases of people walking on Ilkley Moor," he said. "We have put up bigger signs banning people from the moor to reinforce the message that it is closed."

But the unmissable red signs have not deterred some people from heading for the hills.

"A big red notice has now gone up," said Mrs Longthorn. "But on Friday or Saturday, somebody else was saying that somebody had been spotted. Maybe one or two people have not seen the signs or have decided to do what they want.

"If there's a rule for one, it's a rule for all. If I'm obeying the rules then everyone else should."