A farmers' market due to be held in Oxford tomorrow has been cancelled due to weather conditions.

It is the first time it has been cancelled since it was set up almost a decade ago.

Stallholders were told tonight by Warwickshire-based management company Sketts that the twice-monthly market in Gloucester Green would not be going ahead.

Market manager Russell Dean said: “Because of the forecast that there would be heavy snow through the night in Oxford, down to public safety, producers’ safety and also travel problems, we thought it prudent to cancel. We don’t take these decisions lightly.

“We have asked whether the site would be salted if there was snow and were told that highways would come first.”

He said about six producers had already said they would not be able to make it prior to the decision to cancel.

He also said the company’s insurance would not cover it if anyone injured themselves in icy conditions.

But Beckley pig farmer Robert Eadle said: “I just can’t understand it. We can get to the slaughterhouses with our pigs, and to Thame market where they grit the market, but in Oxford they can’t.”