“HEAVY HANDED” officials have been warned to treat traders in Barmouth with more care.

North Wales Police were conducting their monthly meeting with Barmouth Town Council in December when the matter arose.

PCSO David Gwyn Hughes explained: “The main topic I’d like to bring up is the attitude to pedlars on the night of Barmouth’s fireworks evening.

“The behaviour by the event organisers was unacceptable, there were people there with licences which had the right to trade whether you like them or not. Certain behaviour was rude to say the least, heavy handed even – it puts us in a very difficult position.”

Barmouth county councillor Gethin Williams conceded that bad behaviour wasn’t acceptable but that there are “by-laws which prevent traders from trading in certain areas, particularly the prom and harbour”.

“I also saw members of the public being rude too,” he added.

PCSO Hughes said: “This needs to be made clear to the pedlars, maybe signs put up to let them know where they can go?”

Barmouth mayor Jamie Brooks concluded: “There’s obviously a lot of animosity about this and its a problem that goes back years.

“What I think we need to do is to make sure people know who the official event traders are and that the money spent with them will be reinvested into the fireworks evening. We can’t stop them, we can’t charge them if they have a licence – there’s not much you can do.”