An estate's residents plan their own blitz on market traders illegally selling ball-bearing guns.

Town and Country Markets, which operates the bank holiday markets at Brighton Racecourse, banned traders from selling the deadly BB guns last year.

Residents of the nearby Whitehawk estate discovered guns were being sold under the counter and from the back of vans at this season's first market at Easter.

Managers confiscated the guns when they became aware of the sales and traders who broke their market contracts by selling them were barred from future events.

Last year there were numerous Whitehawk incidents involving young children firing BB guns at people, homes and buses.

Nine-year-old Levi Pettitt, of Haybourne Road, Whitehawk, Brighton, suffered a serious eye injury.

Sussex Police, Brighton and Hove City Council and the market management began a crackdown on the weapons.

A council spokeswoman said: "Trading standards are currently talking to police about visiting the next market on May 1 to identify if there is still a problem and make traders aware of people's concerns."

Lyn Bennett, of the Manor Farm Residents' Association, spotted the guns being sold at the Easter market. She said: "We don't want them back. I will be up there on the next bank holiday wearing my BB gun T-shirt and will be brazen about it."

The T-shirt bears the slogan, Ban the BB Gun.

Levi Pettitt's grandmother Lorraine Snow, who runs the Crew Club youth club on the Whitehawk estate, organised a BB gun amnesty last summer when young people were encouraged to swap their guns for water pistols.

It almost eliminated the BB gun menace.

Andy Morris, of Town and Country Markets, is keen to stamp out the sale of the guns. He confiscated a large number of them at the Easter market and reported the sales to police.

He said: "I raided one of the stalls myself. We are doing everything we can to stop this. Unfortunately a few of them did get sold."

Mr Morris said there were about 400 traders with a small number flouting their contracts. They will now be banned from the site.

He wants to hear from residents who find the guns being sold at any of the Town and Country Markets.

He added: "We want to work with the residents and to say that we are doing our best."

Darren Snow, who also runs the Crew Club, said: "The young people are beginning to think BB guns are not a good thing and are coming back and telling us when they are being sold."

MP Des Turner is to ask Brighton and Hove City Council's trading standards department to investigate traders selling the guns.

Anyone who wants to report the sales can contact the market head office on 01952 242019.