Organisers of a continental market due to be held in Coventry next month have cancelled the event in the wake of the Rover crisis.

The Continental Market, an Evesham-based company, was due to bring around 30 stalls to the city centre on May 5 and 6 but traders have backed out after suffering abuse from customers in other Midland towns.

It is the second time the City Centre Company, which manages and promotes the heart of the city, has lost a market in the last sixth months.

A pre-Christmas French market was called off after the escalation in the beef crises.

Shar Williams, of The Continental Market, said:

"We had a meeting with our traders over the Easter weekend and several of the French and German stall holders were not keen to come to Coventry.

"We recently held a market in Warwick and it was clear that emotions were running high because of the Rover affair.

“One of our German traders recently left another market after one day because of the abuse he was getting.

"It is a great shame because we have traders of other nationalities, but the consensus was that it was better in the circumstances that we did not come to Coventry."

Gillian Lawless, events and promotions manager for the City Centre Company, said she understood feelings were running high but added that although she was continuing to explore alternative possibilities, it was likely that it was now too late to organise a replacement event.

She said: