BATTLING cobbler Tony Martin hopes the story of his fight against bureaucracy will be on sale soon.

Mr Martin's shop window in Claypath, Durham, has become well-known for its posters making allegations against Durham City Council.

Mr Martin, who believes his one-man campaign played a part in ending Labour's 20- year control of the council, is bringing out a book about his experiences called Cobblers to the Council.

BBC 1's Inside Out documentary, at 7.30pm, on Monday, is expected to focus on Mr Martin's battle and issues surrounding the collapse of the Gala Theatre's former management company, The Entertainment Team (Durham).

Mr Martin, who has previously been featured on Channel 4 News and another BBC TV regional documentary, Close Up North, said: "Already the book has been voted book of the year by Private Eye.

"It should be ready two weeks after the documentary. It has been looked at legally, but we have had to take some of the stuff out. It will definitely be on sale here in the shop but we are looking for other outlets as well.

"There's a hell of a lot of interest in it. It is important to let people know what's been going on.

"People will be amazed. The documentary should prove rather interesting.

"You can fool some of the people some of the time but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.''

A BBC spokesman said the Inside Out team was still working on the programme and was unable to confirm if it would be screened on Monday, although it was trailed after this week's show about boxer Muhammed Ali's visit to South Shields.

Published: 05/02/2004