A HAIRDRESSER who says his life in Oxford was made a misery because of his Yorkshire accent is to cut his losses and come back north.

Michael Stead, 43, and his partner, Carol Hewitson, say they are a living testimony to the North-South divide after a catalogue of unpleasant

incidents.

The couple are now set to 'don their flat caps' and replant their Yorkshire roots in Burley-in-Wharfedale after saying prejudice against their northern background made life unbearable.

The couple, who moved to Thame, near Oxford, almost two years ago, say they have had enough of being ridiculed and ignored by their

southern neighbours.

Mr Stead, who is originally from Bradford, said: "We do not like it down here. We have never been so proud of Yorkshire until we left it.

"If you walk down the street and say 'good morning', people think that you are either drunk or insane. You do not realise how unfriendly people are. They do not speak to you at all."

Mr Stead claims prejudice ran so high against his Yorkshire twang he was even asked to leave his job.

He said: "I was taken to one side and asked to leave because my

conversation was not conducive to the atmosphere of the salon where I worked - presumably because I couldn't talk about foxhunting."

The couple say they were also shunned for coming from 'up North' and constantly forced to defend their birthplace. Mr Stead said: "There are so many people in the South who think that Watford is a car park for London and that there are just tumbleweeds and wastelands beyond that.

"People in the South think that we can't speak, don't read and don't go the supermarket or the theatre."

The couple are now looking forward to good old fashioned Yorkshire hospitality when they move to Burley, where Mr Stead has found a job at Main Street-based salon Snooti a'Gooti. Mr Stead said: "We cannot wait to get back."

Dickie Bird, the legendary cricket umpire, said he could not comment on the couple's problems, but was quick to defendthe Yorkshire accent.

Mr Bird said: "I am very very proud of my Yorkshire accent. Wherever I go in the world they all say that Yorkshire people are very very friendly. They are down to earth and they will help anybody in life."

Fellow proud Yorkshireman, TV presenter Harry Gration, said: "It is true what they say about the North and the South. The North is far more friendly. I spent four years working in Southampton and I found people were stand-offish. I didn't make many friendships and those I did were superficial."