UKIP’S South Swindon candidate has accused the council of engaging in a bitter personal vendetta against him in a bid to scupper his chances of election on Thursday.

Martin Costello believes council officers are intentionally disrupting his campaign in retaliation for his public stance opposing this year's council tax increases.

In recent days Martin and his team have seen their promotional signs removed from lampposts around the constituency.

Fearing they had been the victims of theft, they contacted the police.

But before detectives could launch an investigation, Martin’s agent received a letter informing him that it was in fact Swindon Borough Council, not a gang of thieves, who were responsible for removing the signs.

The news came as a shock to the UKIP team. Keen to ensure they were acting within the rules they had gone to the trouble of contacting the council’s planning department to seek permission to put the signs up around South Swindon.

Content that UKIP’s plans did not constitute a breach of the regulations on advertising and, on the condition that the signs were removed by two weeks after polling day, a council planning officer gave them the nod.

However, the council’s highways department had other ideas. No sooner had UKIP members put the signs up, the highways team were deeming them to be a distraction and taking them down.

When Martin’s agent complained they threatened to start charging the campaign at a rate £68 a hour for the removal.

Martin said: “Not having the budget for glossy leaflets, this was a critical part of our campaign and appears to be the establishment at work once again trying to drown out our voice.

“A short trip up Great Western Way will show a multitude of advertisements that are clearly paid for but are not classed as a distraction as money is going into the council’s pockets.

“It seems that when we are fighting for democracy our signs were deemed a distraction despite the fact they were installed in very carefully selected positions.

“It appears that the council have a vendetta against UKIP as I have pledged to respect the council tax cap and resist it being raised by unwarranted amounts annually.”

A council spokesman said: “The council does not have a vendetta against Mr Costello, or anyone else for that matter.

“The confusion in this case has arisen because Mr Costello did not explain where he was looking to put up his boards when he originally contacted our planning officer and his inquiry focused on whether such advertisement would contravene Class E of the Town and Country Planning Act Planning (Control of Advertisements) (England) Regulations 2007. He was told it would not.

“However, if Mr Costello had indicated to us that he was planning to put his signs on street lamps along the public highway he would have been advised to contact our Highways team for guidance on whether it was allowed under the Highway Act.

“As he did not have permission to put up the signs they were removed. We have been in contact with Mr Costello and have advised him that he can collect his signs from our Waterside depot.”