PUB owners have attacked the Government for wasting taxpayers' money in an area devastated by foot-and-mouth disease.

Colin and Diana Stratton, who own the Wellington Heifer at Ainderby Steeple, near Northallerton, said vets working in the North Yorkshire hotspot were told they could not stay at the pub, despite making a request to ministry officials.

The couple said the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) would not book rooms for the vets, despite their cheaper prices than previous hotels they had stayed at, such as The Golden Lion in Northallerton and nearby Solberge Hall.

Mr Stratton said: "We were talking about cost-cutting and helping businesses that have been affected by foot-and-mouth, but Defra are happier to waste taxpayers' money by putting them up in far more expensive hotels."

The couple have written to local MP and former Tory leader William Hague, who said he would pass their concerns on to new rural supremo Margaret Beckett.

But a Defra spokeswoman insisted: "We had accounts with 25 hotels and small bed and breakfast places across North Yorkshire.

"We couldn't turn round and take them out of a place where people were anticipating their business."