New foot and mouth outbreak forces market to close

The latest instance, at a farm in Egham, is the third in the current outbreak.

Roger Waters, director of South East Marts, which runs the Hailsham market, said: 'I envisage being closed for a longer period of time than we were on the last occasion. We are awaiting some sort of lifting of the movement restrictions so that farm to farm trading can take place.'

He added: 'At the moment Hailsham market is being used as a collection centre.

'With the current restrictions it is only possible to trade cattle direct to an abbatoir by using an approved collection centre.

'Hailsham is such a licensed centre and on Wednesday we carried out our first collection under strict bio-security and vetinary provisions.

'So we currently have lorries of stock arriving but you certainly won't see a single beast travelling on a farmer's trailer.'