ORGANISERS of Lea Music Festival were outraged when Wiltshire County Council ripped up roadside signs and threw them away.

The festival's seven wooden signs, designed by a local artist, with the slogan Musicalea, were put up two weeks ago at either end of the village, but on Friday they all disappeared.

Festival organiser Christy Glossop called the county's area highways supervisor, who said the signs had been taken down because they were in breach of the Highways Act.

"He said he didn't know where the signs were but he could assure us they were safe," said Len Beckett, another festival committee member.

But on Monday, Mrs Glossop spoke to the highways department, and was told the signs had been chucked away in a clean-up at the county's Wootton Bassett depot.

"We are absolutely outraged and disgusted," Mr Beckett said. "They should have asked the parish council to remove them."

A county council spokesman confirmed the signs had been removed because they were a safety risk.

"An operative at the Wootton Bassett depot accidentally threw away the signs," he said.

He said it was unlikely festival organisers would get compensation for the lost signs.