SHOPKEEPERS furious at the prospect of losing trade are vowing to fight to keep their advertising boards on the street despite warnings from council bosses.

Sue McNulty, who owns McNulty's newsagents, in Linthorpe Road, Middlesbrough, believes the smaller shop owners are being victimised by Middlesbrough Council.

Only shops and businesses on two small stretches of road in the town have been told to remove their hoardings following complaints from members of the public.

Before Christmas, the council sent out letters warning businesses on certain sections of Linthorpe Road and Newport Road to remove the signs which were described as an obstruction to partially-sighted pedestrians.

"I am really annoyed about this whole situation," said Mrs McNulty. "When we received the warning, I brought my board in, but after a couple of weeks, I noticed that shops right the down Linthorpe Road were still putting theirs out.

"How can boards be creating an obstruction outside my shop, when they aren't outside the bigger stores in the town centre?

"I want to know why it is just us shop owners in this section of the road that are being victimised by the council.

"If you walk down to the town centre, there are about 15 advertising boards outside national shops, but they haven't been told to bring in theirs.

"I doesn't make sense to me - they either cause obstructions or they don't. All we want is it to be fair."

The manager of the nearby Cash Generator store, Dave Anderson, has vowed to fight the council's decision.

He said: "If we are going to remove our boards, it has got to be across the town, otherwise it is unfair. I intend writing to the council to find out exactly why our businesses are being targeted.

"It is not as if our board is in the middle of the pavement, it was always close to the shop entrance, and in the four or five years we been open, there has never been a single complaint about the siting of the board."

A Middlesbrough Council spokesman said: "We wrote to these people and visited them today because it is important we get the message across that these boards are breaking the law.

"We have started in this area because it is very busy and these boards are a potential hazard. If the board is on a shop frontage there is nothing we can do, but these are on the highway and should be removed."