A LEADING councillor has warned firms and landowners to take advice from experts before displaying adverts.

Councillor Frank Robson, chairman of Darlington Borough Council's planning applications committee, spoke out after a successful council prosecution, which concerned a large advertising board mounted on a trailer in a farmer's field, in the town's Snipe Lane.

The Teesside firm involved, UK Trailer Advertising, and the farmer, Paul Starkey, of Snipe Lane, Darlington, were both fined at Darlington Magistrates Court on July 12.

They had been prosecuted over breaches of the Town and Country Planning act.

Coun Robson said: "The council will not tolerate such blatant disregard for its planning regulations."