Oil company Esso has been forced to remove three large advertising hoardings from a derelict petrol station in Abingdon because the firm did not have planning permission.

The hoardings went up last month on the site next to the Cross Roads Garage, in Drayton Road.

Residents complained and told the Vale of White Horse District Council.

A planning official went to investigate and discovered that Esso did not have planning permission to erect the hoardings.

Council leader Paul Bizzell said: "The large hoardings were an eyesore and covered up trees at the back of the site. The company was not entitled to put up the boards on derelict land without planning permission.

"We took out an injunction to get the hoardings removed and they came down pretty quickly."

The owner of Cross Roads Garage, Jonathan Cliff, said: "It appears there was a problem over planning permission, so the hoarding had to come down.

"They weren't there for long."

He said his company had completed the purchase of the site and was in the process of submitting a planning application, which he hoped would be with the council before the end of the year.

The Local Plan earmarks the land for housing.