HEAVY horse show organisers are ploughing on with Sunday's big event despite suffering a kick in the ribs.

Kent Highway Services has ordered Sevenoaks Lions Club to tear down 40 of its 70 signs advertising the event on health and safety grounds.

It fears the advertising boards placed on the side of roads around the district could distract motorists and potentially cause a crash.

The Lions Club has been putting the advertising boards up for the past 18 years, and this is the first time in the show's history it has been ordered to take them down.

Club spokesman John Law said: "We've had to take the majority of the signs down and it's too late to go round and reposition them.

"What they're saying is the signs were illegal because they don't allow signs on the side of the highway.

"In that respect they've asked us to move them and they're quite within their rights.

"But having said that, it's messed us right up because we've not been able to put boards where we normally would."

This is the biggest event in the club's fundraising calendar, which consistently raises thousands of pounds for charity, with much of the money distributed to worthy causes in Sevenoaks.

Last year alone saw £18,000 raised, with almost 5,000 visitors turning up to support the event.

But the club is worried the lack of advertising will prevent it repeating that success.

Mr Law said: "It's difficult to say what the impact will be, but we do think there will be an impact.

"People might think it's been cancelled."

Nick Chard, county council member for environment, highways and waste, said although some of the advertising boards had to be taken down, AA signs promoting the event had been approved and were in place around the area.

"What they did was they had signs that were very small and in the view of the safety officer it meant people having to slow down to read them," said Mr Chard.

"We've got no problem with them putting up the AA signs, but we want to make sure people are safe."

Heavy horse show preview – see page 10