A TOURISM leader today slammed the miserable and negative image created by tethered horses on a key route into York.

York Tourism Bureau chief executive Gillian Cruddas said there had been a number of complaints from tourists shocked at seeing horses tied up by the roadside alongside Hull Road and the A166 Bridlington Road.

She claimed the practice made York look like it was sanctioning animal cruelty, and she feared it was affecting the city's crucial tourism business.

"I think it is cruel. These animals have a miserable existence. It doesn't say what we want to say about York," she said.

"This is a caring and welcoming city and this is a negative aspect. It could so easily be changed."

One visitor, Dorothy Horne, from Wirral, wrote to the bureau to say the horses on Hull Road looked depressed, were without water and some had very tight head collars that had cut into their noses.

"Does anyone care for these wretched horses?" she asked. "I have seen the unattractive side of York; it is not good for your tourist industry."

The horses are usually owned by the city's travelling community, among whom they are considered status symbols.

The York Travellers Trust said today that as far as it was concerned, the horses were well kept and well looked after.

But a solution to the general problem had been found with a proposal to let travellers lease a council-owned field to give their animals a proper home, said trust spokeswoman Christine Shepherd.

However, City of York Council had blocked the idea - at the point of signing contracts - over the question of insurance, she said.

"While a number of travellers were prepared to sign a contract, an issue came up over liability insurance.

"The majority of travellers have huge difficulty in getting insurance and...this has proved the stumbling block.

"The travellers are willing, but we are hitting a brick wall. They were at the signing meeting with their money, waiting to pay."

A council spokeswoman said it had worked, and would continue to work, with the travelling community to find a satisfactory solution to the problem.

"We are checking with our insurers to see if this matter can be resolved."

The RSPCA said that it was pushing the Government to bring in laws to deal with horse tethering.

"We are very concerned about this problem," said a spokeswoman. "The RSPCA doesn't believe that tethering should be used as a long-term way of managing horses.

"We are pushing through our five points of care scheme, which would give owners a legal responsibility to look after animals.

"We could then step in if suffering is likely to occur."

Mrs Cruddas said one simple solution in Hull Road would be for the grass to be regularly cut - thereby removing any incentive to tether the horses there.

Updated: 10:54 Tuesday, May 07, 2002