A theatre organiser has slammed the council for stopping him advertising his show at the Astor Theatre in Deal.

Gordon Clarkson, 53, of St Peter’s Road, Margate, contacted Dover District Council to put posters of his show Sing As We Go around the town.

He has been running productions at the Astor for 33 years and says he has never had a problem with this previously.

He said: “I was very disappointed by the inefficient and cavalier dealings I had with DDC parking services department in terms of permission to display our posters for this event.”

He said although he was given permission to display the posters on the toilet blocks in Deal, his request to also display them in the car parks at Stanhope Road, West Street and South Street were refused.

He said: “As the boards are always empty, I decided to apply again in person, to try to explain, and hopefully persuade the powers that be to reconsider as I couldn’t see what harm it would do.”

He was told he needed to appeal and was passed to the parking services department.

Despite phoning numerous times, he claims he received no response from Mr Connelly who was dealing with the request.

Mr Clarkson, who lives with his wife Joy, added: “No response came, so, for the duration of our visit to bring entertainment to the people of Deal, the boards remained empty.

“It seems ridiculous that an opportunity to advertise something for the good of the town, can be controlled by parking services.

“I really don’t see what harm would be done by allowing us the opportunity of letting more people know about the show, and apart from anything else for Mr Connelly not to bother to be courteous enough to reply to messages doesn’t say much for the customer care policy in DDC parking services, also, Deal seems again to be marginalised by DDC.”

The council claims that notice boards in car parks are solely for the use of parking-related notices.

A spokesman for DDC said: “We were pleased to give permission for shows at the Astor to be advertised on three community notice boards in Deal and Walmer. However, the notice boards in car parks are to publicise parking-related issues.”