Town centre charity volunteers became embroiled in a row with a Kirklees Council officer over a collection bucket display.

Guide Dogs for the Blind volunteers were told to remove a circle of collection buckets around their pitch, at the junction of New Street and King Street, yesterday.

While the volunteers were granted a licence for three collectors, their display of buckets broke the terms of their permit, a spokesperson for Kirklees Council said.

But the collectors claim they were asked to leave the spot by the unnamed council employee.

They allege they were given their marching orders by the officer who cited ‘new rules’ governing street collections.

The collection was organised by Charity Aid, a North West-based volunteer group which collects on behalf of Help for Heroes, MacMillan and Cancer Research as well as smaller, local charities.

Peter Quinn, of Charity Aid, said: “She said it was a new rule and we couldn’t have all these collection buckets and banners. She said we had 30 minutes to pack up.”

Despite the row the volunteers collected hundreds of pounds for the charity.

Mr Quinn said: “The public reaction has been fabulous; people have been putting money in the buckets and they wouldn’t do it if they didn’t like us.”

He added: “We’ve done this in town centres all over the North of England and we’ve never had any trouble.”

Kirklees Council denied the volunteers were asked to pack up.

Rob Dalby, Kirklees Street Scene manager, said: “An officer politely approached the collectors having checked the conditions of the licence applied for and advised that they had permission for three collectors and did not have permission for a display.

“As the collectors had a display formed from a large number of buckets which were laid out in a large circle around them along with other materials, they were advised that they were operating outside of that permit.

“The collectors were not told to pack up and move but advised to inform their head office to contact the licensing team to check the terms of their licence, and that licensing may enforce the licence conditions.”