THE owners of a Winchester restaurant say they feel they are being picked on after county bosses ordered them to remove their advertising bike.

Vincenzo Panunzio and his business partner, Carlos Rodriguez, own the Los Amigos Italian restaurant in St George's Street.

Since September they have parked a bicycle with a chalkboard advertising their restaurant attached, on a bike stand outside Monsoon, in the High Street.

However, the pair received a letter from Hampshire County Council demanding they take the bike away or see it removed by the council, for which Mr Panunzio and Mr Rodriguez would be charged.

Mr Panunzio said: "It is a fully operational bike that one of my members of staff rides.

"The council says we need to take it down, but it is not causing an obstruction. It is parked in a proper bike space.

"If we have to move it, we will but it is causing no harm to anyone.

"I could understand if it looked ugly but our customers have commented on how smart the bike looks.

"When the scaffolding was up for a month we lost nearly £4,000 because the council did not help us. They did not give out any compensation or let people know we were open.

All we are doing is trying to make a bit of business and we feel as though we are being picked on."

A spokesman for Hampshire County Council said: "There is a continuing problem in the city centre area with these unauthorised signs. The county council has recently written to a number of offenders', of which Los Amigos is one.

"As the highway authority, the county council is required to deal with unauthorised signs on the highway, of which this is an example. The owners of such signs are contacted by letter and asked to remove them.

"If they do not, the county council is empowered to remove them itself, after a period of notice."