A VIRTUAL pillow fight has broken out between a North Yorkshire bed company and its Surrey-based rival.

To Catch A Dream, the specialist retailer of high quality beds, bedsteads and bedroom furniture, is taking legal advice to prevent on-line customers being diverted from its official website to that of a rival.

The family-owned business, in Montpelier Parade, Harrogate, supplies customers throughout the UK and overseas.

It operates its on-line business through two websites, www.tocatchadream.net and www.tocatchadream.com, but managing director Terry Dixon says that he was recently made aware that a rival national business, operating under a completely different name, had registered and activated the .co.uk designation for To Catch A Dream.

He said: "This other business has absolutely nothing to do with us, and it can only have been set up for reasons best known to themselves.

"In my opinion, the danger is that customers trying to get to our website are directed to the site of this rival business and may think there is some link when there isn't.

"We pride ourselves on being a family run business with a high reputation for the quality of our products and the standard of our service.

"We don't want to see this compromised in any way."

Mr Dixon did not name the rival, but anyone accessing www.tocatch-adream.co.uk finds themselves at the website of an organisation called And So To Bed, which has its headquarters in Esher, Surrey, and has an outlet in Crescent Road, Harrogate, about 200 yards from Mr and Mrs Dixon's shop.

To Catch A Dream, which has an annual turnover of more than £1.5 million, recently invested heavily to expand its store in Harrogate which houses what Mr Dixon and his wife, Christine, claim is one of the UK's largest international collections of beds, bedsteads and bedroom furniture.

Mr Dixon has written to all his suppliers in the UK and abroad to warn them of the position and has taken out advertisements in key trade publications.

He said: "The web address in our company name is an official trade name and trademark registered in both the UK and the EU.

"Through our trademark attorney we have brought the issue to the attention of Nominet, the official organisation responsible for policing such matters, and are taking legal advice to decide our next course of action."

Keith Barnitt, the chief executive of And So To Bed, Andy Hills, managing director and Harry Bennett, financial director, were all unavailable for comment.

Updated: 10:35 Friday, June 11, 2004