Fury at Zamora CD ban

Fans calling themselves The Seagull Singers produced 3,000 CDs of the famous Withdean chant That's Zamora in a bid to raise money for Children in Need.

They hoped to sell some of them at the weekend promotion parade but were thwarted by a Brighton and Hove City Council decision to refuse them a licence to trade.

Now they fear many CDs will be left unsold and the charity will miss out on thousands of pounds.

The CDs were released in tribute to the fans' idol, Albion striker Bobby Zamora.

The singers' spokesman Tony Kybett, from Southwick, said: "Owing to the council's decision to ban any sales at the parade, we have 1,600 of the 3,000 CDs left for sale.

"Had the remainder been sold on Saturday the final cheque to Children in Need would have been £5,490. Instead we have available today a total of £885 profit. The parade was our last chance to get all the fans together before next season.

"We sold 1,400 CDs at the Swindon game so we naturally thought that, with about 30,000 people there on Saturday, we should be more than able to sell the rest.

"I went to the council to ask for permission the Monday before and on the Friday they called me to say they were refusing.

"The council officer told us we would be a safety hazard. We were just astounded."

A council spokesman said: "The police basically told us they'd advise it not to happen for crowd control reasons.

"We were acting purely on police advice.

"In fact, we were very sorry to be the bringer of bad news given that these people were trying to raise money for charity."

A spokeswoman for Brighton and Hove police said: "There seems to have been some sort of breakdown in communication.

"Clearly it is up to the council whether they grant a licence or not and obviously this was for charity.

"But there may well have been concerns at the planning stage as we were predicting crowds of 20,000 people.

"That may well have been where this came from."