Holiday ads banned from buses

First came the row with the Italians over attempts to ban smelly food on the Tube. Next came the ban on a poster for the horror film Creep because it featured an image of a Tube passenger being murdered.

Now Ken Livingstone's transport authority has provoked controversy again by refusing to carry £200,000 of advertising on buses for a Mediterranean island holiday destination.

Transport for London turned down posters promoting north Cyprus after receiving complaints from the capital's Greek Cypriot community.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish forces invaded the north in response to a military coup on the island, leaving it separated by a "green line" patrolled by United Nations troops.

Greek Cypriots, who control the remaining two thirds of the island, claim their illegally-annexed properties are being used as holiday homes. They say attempts to promote the north - which is not recognised internationally - as a tourist destination are offensive.

The adverts, featuring idyllic beaches, first appeared on buses for two weeks in November.

This sparked an official complaint to TfL from Brian Coleman, the Conservative chairman of the

Namik Korhan, London spokesman for the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, said he had written to the Mayor to complain.

He said the area's economy was dependent on tourism. "This is an offence to the Turkish Cypriot people in north Cyprus and the UK." London Assembly whose Barnet and Camden constituent includes many Greek Cypriots.

Now the North Cyprus Tourist Board has asked to re-run the campaign and expand it across the Tube network. But TfL refused, saying the adverts now breached its advertising policy because they had sparked complaints.

A TfL spokesman said: "TfL recently declined a request by the North Cyprus Tourism Board to carry advertising on the London Underground and London buses. TfL is currently reviewing an appeal from the NCTB asking for the decision to be reconsidered."

Yilmaz Kalfaoglu, tourism co-ordinator at the board's North Cyprus Tourism Centre, said more than 100,000 Britons visited the area last year.

He said: "We are not promoting the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus. All we are trying to do is promote tourism. We don't have a political objective."

But a spokesman for the Cyprus High Commission said tens of thousands of Greek Cypriots found the promotion offensive as they had been driven from their homes by the invasion.

The Mayor previously banned adverts for Sandals as it refused to allow gay couples at its Caribbean resorts. The firm has since changed its policy.