A vintage shop owner is defying warnings to remove his shop sign.

David Hansford, owner of Vintage antiques shop in Weymouth, says he will keep putting out his vibrant yellow bike, which directs the public to his shop, despite a visit from someone who identified himself as a council maintenance worker, who said he was sent to remove it last Thursday, April 20. 

The bike was connected to a railing outside Holy Trinity Church on Trinity Road in Weymouth. 

The council worker asked Mr Hansford to remove the bike himself in order for him to keep it, but warned that he was not permitted to put it back on the rail. Mr Hansford claimed he was told that it gave 'the wrong image of the town.'

The worker was also collecting other signs that had been left throughout the town, Mr Hansford said, including what the trader claimed to be a four metre banner.

He said: “The bike has been there for about a year and a half. People liked the bike. "They looked after it. If it fell down somebody put it back. There’s always people there taking pictures of it. 

"If I didn’t take it down they were going to remove it and take it to the council.”

Mr Hansford said he will continue to put the bike out during the weekend days, and bring it in again at night. 

Mr Hansford said the bike is important to him as without it, he feels no one will come to visit Vintage. 

He said: "Everyone crosses the bridge and turns to go towards Brewer's Quay. Without the bike, no one would turn right to come to the shop." 

However, both Dorset County Council and Weymouth and Portland Borough Council have said they weren't involved in the removal of the bike. 

A spokesman from Dorset County Council said: "We normally only enforce our policy on A-boards and other advertising signs where there is an obvious danger or obstruction. We are aware of the bike but did not see it as a problem." 

Weymouth and Portland Borough Council advised that it would usually be something dealt with by a county council as a highway Authority.