A council has apologised after signs advertising the popular Beaconsfield Country Fayre were removed days before the event.

The signs, asking people not to park in Windsor End overnight on Sunday, are believed to have been taken down by mistake by South Bucks District Council contractors after complaints about illegal posters in the Old Town.

Fayre committee member, Simon Woolf, told of his disappointment at the removal of the signs and said they would now have to fork out for more to replace them before the big event on Monday.

He said: “It is really frustrating that the signs have been taken down. I know people are concerned with fly posters and we respect that, which is why we take them down as soon as the event is over.

“These signs are put there to try and stop people parking there overnight. Every year, we get the odd car or two that ignores the signs and it is a problem.

“We will now have to buy more signs for Monday and the more money we spend on those, the less money goes to charity, which is not good.”

He continued: “The Beaconsfield Country Fayre is now a major community event in the Beaconsfield Calendar which has raised well over £100,000 for local charities and over the last eight years we have run the Fayre, the signs for this community event have never been vandalised or removed.”

A South Bucks District Council spokesman said: “We would like to apologise to the Fayre organisers for this error and hope the removal of signs will not impact on what is traditionally a wonderful occasion for Beaconsfield.

“We will take the matter up with our contractors to establish how it happened and what measures we can take to avoid such mistakes being repeated.”

Beaconsfield Country Fayre, which features the well-known stretcher race, returns on Bank Holiday Monday with a classic car show and dog show, as well as a birds of prey display, giant inflatable slide and climbing wall.

Craft and food stalls, a great balloon race, children's Go-Karts and live music from the Phoenix Jazz Band will also keep visitors entertained.

Visit http://beaconsfieldcountryfayre.org/ for more information.