ORGANISERS are bitterly disappointed after police refused to clear parked cars before this year's Beaconsfield Fair leaving the job up to the town crier.

For a number of years police have supervised the removal of cars to empty the streets of the Old Town before stall-holders set up rides and attractions but that has now changed.

A spokesman for the Hall Barn Estate said: "The presence of the police when the fair has moved in in the past has been very helpful.

"We are very disappointed that there will be a lack of police support for the fair this year but we are making alternative arrangements.

"We will have to see how we get on.

"We do not know what kind of problems may be caused at this point."

Town crier Dick Smith will have to scour the streets of the Old Town for stray vehicles in an attempt to find the owners and make them move their vehicles prior to this year's event on May 10.

He seemed undaunted by the challenge: "We never had these problems before and if the fair blokes built their stall on the road they did it round the cars and the cars had to stay there for three days.

"It's a godsend they are out of the way."

The fair has been taking place annually in Beaconsfield since 1269 when Richard, Earl of Cornwall, was granted a charter by his brother, Henry III.

PC Alan Baverstock of Thames Valley Police said police had advised the fair's organisers of their plans at a meeting in June last year.

He added: "How could we lawfully remove an alleged obstruction, the car, to allow it to be replaced by another obstruction, the fair?

"While the majority of drivers remove their vehicles prior to the closures being implemented, the organisers had to be aware that there would be a problem, with no ready answer, if a vehicle having been legally parked remained within the area intended to be occupied by the fair.

"Now we have to be aware that people could claim off us if we are not acting lawfully."