Didcot's efforts to attract tourism have been dealt two fresh blows -- signposts for tourists will be taken down and, instead of new public toilets, the town will get second-hand loos from Wallingford.

The green signposts which cost £6,000 to put up in are being scrapped because the town council will not pay to maintain them.

Jeanette Howse The signs, which vandals have tampered with to point in the wrong directions, will be taken down at a cost of £500-600.

In addition, while Wallingford has brand new "superloos" subsidised by Waitrose, Didcot has been selected by the district council as an appropriate location for the leftover toilets, which will be installed in the Edinburgh Drive car park on April 20.

County councillor Terry Joslin said: "It's a dreadful shame about the finger signs. It's not rocket science to work out how to screw them down."

He added: "Having Wallingford's second-hand toilets is an insult of massive proportions.

"It's all part of this attitude that Didcot is a second-rate town."

Jeanette Howse, spokesman for the Chamber of Commerce, pictured, said: "Why can't they make the signs swivel-proof? As it is, people coming to the railway centre get lost.

"It's stupid. We should be encouraging tourists.

"We are the fourth largest tourist attraction in Oxfordshire and the largest attraction in south Oxfordshire. It's a growing trend. In the first three months of this year the number of visitors was up by 18 per cent.

"With the new Orchard Centre coming people from outside the town there is more of a need for signs for tourists."

With the loss of the tourist signs there will be few facilities for tourists when the Tourist Information Centre, in The Broadway, Didcot, closes in April next year.

Margaret Davies, leader of the town council, said: "The tourist signs will be taken down because they are no use, except to confuse people."

She said the council did not have the specialist resources to maintain the signs.