TRADERS and highways officials fear tourists will struggle to find Richmond this summer after directions to army barracks were fixed over a sign to the town from the A1.

Town leaders thought at first the obliteration of the "Richmond" sign at a junction south of Catterick was a mistake.

But inquiries revealed that the Department for Transport does not consider Richmond a primary destination and, as a result, the Highways Agency said the fixing of the Marne Barracks sign was permanent.

Richmond town manager Colin Grant has begun a campaign to have Richmond, which attracts 900,000 tourists a year, designated a primary destination.

"I was under the impression that perhaps it had been a temporary sign to the big army open day at Marne Barracks in June and that it should have been taken down afterwards."

"I have nothing against a sign for Marne Barracks, but not at the expense of Richmond."

The designations were made in 1994, and Mr Grant has approached the Government Office for Yorkshire and Humber for the relevant documents to begin the process to have Richmond recognised as a primary destination.

"The Highways Agency also said the brown tourist sign further up the A1 was out of date and should be taken down," he added. "If we are not careful we are going to end up with no sign at all."