A STREET vendor selling flowers from a pitch outside Oxford's Westgate is facing a rent hike from the city council of nearly 50 per cent.

Darren Oretagu, who has been selling flowers from his stall since September, said that the increase will cause his rent to rocket from £4,120 to £6,105.

He said: "Michael King worked here for 23 years before me. There were lots of small increases of up to ten per cent. But this huge increase is unprecedented. and is just another nail in the coffin of the small trader."

He added: "I have got through the winter and am now suddenly faced with this. And there is no appeal procedure.

"Its ridiculous. I've got six days to run on my present licence and am simply wondering what to do about it."

He added: "I am also amazed that the council has approved Sainsbury's planning application to move into the old Disney store while the Westgate is redeveloped.

"The council must have known that Sainsbury's sell flowers and would therefore be working in competition with me - and just a few feet away from me."

City council spokesman Shey Cobley said: "The decision to increase fees was reached after a full report was made to the general purpose licensing committee. When the decision was made to do so, traders were present at the meeting and no objection was received. We are pleased that the vast majority of traders have responded positively and decided to renew their trading consents." "

The council licenses 26 street traders in Oxford city centre, many of them kebab salesmen. All have seen their rents increased.

In a parallel move, owner of flower shop The Garden in Oxford's Covered Market, Paul Birtles, said: "The city council has proposed to raise my rent by 100 per cent, but that proposal is now going to arbitration."

Spokesman for the Market Traders Association, Richard Alden, said: "Four test cases went to arbitration and rents were set at markedly lower rates than initial council demands. Now we think it would be a waste of public money for all 50 businesses to be taken to arbitration. We think that rents should be set in line with the four test cases.

"The bottom line here is that there are businesses in the Covered Market that cannot exist if they pay High Street rents, but a lot of customers want an alternative to supermarkets."

Council spokesman Chris Lee said market rents had been referred to a third party arbitrator. "Each lease has been carefully examined and judged individually, with increases based on factors such as the size of the unit and the position within the Covered Market."