A FOUR-month wait for police checks has lost a Wensleydale woman a year's potential business income.

Charlotte Sowerby had hoped to launch horse-drawn carriage rides at Hawes during the weekend of the Queen's golden jubilee at the beginning of June.

She applied for the necessary police checks via the Government's Criminal Records Bureau and the application was sent on April 24.

Countless telephone calls and letters later, it was only last Friday that Mrs Sowerby, of Thwaite Bridge, Hawes, received official notice that the checks had been carried out and she was clear to begin operating.

"It is not now worth me getting a licence for this year, as the business is aimed mainly at tourists and we are nearly at the end of the season," she said. "I will be looking to get a licence for next year but it means I have missed out on a whole season's income."

Mrs Sowerby praised Richmondshire District Council, via which her application was made, and Hawes and High Abbotside Parish Council for backing her complaints to the bureau.

"Richmondshire Council was brilliant and John Jamieson there spent two hours on the phone one afternoon chasing it up," she said.

Lost copies of Mrs Sowerby's birth certificate and disclosure application form and the fact a reference number had been keyed into a computer incorrectly were given as the reasons for the delay.

Mrs Sowerby has lodged a formal complaint, including a claim for compensation, and has been backed by the parish and district council, the Prince's Trust, which is helping her set up the business, and Defra minister Alun Michael.

However, the complaints process also appears to be delayed. "I sent the complaint on August 2 and was told I would receive an acknowledgement within two working days and a response within ten working days," she said yesterday. "So far, I've heard nothing."

A Home Office spokesman was unable to comment specifically on Mrs Sowerby's case but said extra staff had been recruited and the bureau was working round the clock to try to clear the backlog of checks by September 4.

"Every effort is being made to fully clear these applications, though there can be no compromise in the rigour of the process," he said.

Several schools across the UK have been unable to open because teachers have not yet been cleared by the process