Forget the wheeler-dealer image of market traders.

In Darlington, more than 20 traders from the indoor, outdoor and farmers' markets have graduated from a course aimed at providing them with the business skills to put them ahead of their competitors.

The ten-week Market Traders Business Skills and Promotional Facilitation course was the idea of the town's markets manager, Peter Wilson, who, with help from Darlington Business Venture, got the course up and running.

The course included a variety of learning, covering issues such as promotions, marketing, legal aspects of the trade, public relations, customer care and finance.

Anne-Marie Jones, from Darlington Business Venture, said: "For many years market traders have been viewed as the poor relations of retail.

"Starting a business as a market trader has been relatively easy, requiring little in start-up capital and business knowledge.

"It is recognised that a lack of core business skills has contributed to an under-performance of some market traders.

"Retail is an increasingly competitive sector, and today's successful market traders need to both understand business skills and to utilise a joint market strategy to move forward."

Mr Wilson said: "Very large multi-nationals are continually training their staff and improving themselves because they can't afford to stand still, and market traders have to be able to use what ever time and resources they have in the most effective and efficient way."

The course was not fixed, in that the modules could be customised to suit individual traders' needs.

Brian Jones, who has run The Bag Scene in Darlington for 23 years, said he enrolled on the course with his two sons, Jonathon and Mark, to give them more information about running the businesses.

He said that he did not think market traders would ever be able to get rid of the Del-Boy image, but the course would go some way to helping them to stay ahead of the game.

"There are always people who will not buy from markets," he said.

"But the course has given us ideas about public relations and advertising we hadn't considered before."

Each trader that has completed the course will receive an accredited certificate of excellence to be displayed on their market stands