Town council leader Samantha Hoy has promised action will be taken to stop abuse of its policy of allowing car booters to sell goods in the market place on Sundays.

Cllr Hoy was responding to criticism on social media of scenes like the one photographed last Sunday when items for sale were strewn across the cobbled stones.

She said she would be talking to council staff to ensure the rules are abided by and car booters are informed.

"It's been fine for a long time, staff do occasionally make errors," she tweeted. "It has increased trade in town. "Shops have employed more staff. However things should be on tables and this hasn't been followed so I have spoken to the office."

Wisbech Round Table also took to twitter to make their views known, claiming council leaders had promised a year ago things would improve.

"Nobody listened by the looks of things," they tweeted. "It could, perhaps, be ok if it just tidied itself up a bit. It's a beautiful part of town, and standards need to be maintained. Councillors are the driving force behind this."

But the round table added: "It's a mess. The 'goods on tables' so-called 'standard' has been discussed many times in social media, and councillors have said they'll remind people about it but nothing changes.

"Scenes like this are not 'good for the town'; they merely reinforce what many already think."

Former independent town and district councillor Virginia Bucknor tweeted: "The council can easily require minimum standards. This dustbin scenario does not help our tourism and businesses."

One comment on twitter, from Peter Garner, noted that "in my opinion it's a bad decision to allow this on the Market Place which has been neglected for years. This is another example of why Wisbech is becoming a 'Poundland Paradise'".

Resident Peter Freeman, a former special police officer and former council candidate, suggested that Cllr Hoy ought not to be surprised and felt she must surely have been aware of the problem already.

But it looks like debating the issue on social media has stimulated one thought for the council leader.

Richard Humphrey tweeted: "It's a shambolic mess in my opinion. I avoid the town centre on a Sunday.

"It must leave visitors to the town with a poor impression of Wisbech. Take a trip to Ely and see how to do markets properly."

To which Cllr Hoy later responded: "We are looking to improve the market place. I will go to Ely for some ideas."