A SHROVETIDE pancake race due to be staged in Ripon today as part of celebrations going back 600 years has been abandoned because of hurdles imposed by local health and safety officials.

A "pancake bell" on Ripon Cathedral has been rung at 11am on Shrove Tuesday since the 15thCentury to warn people to use up their left0ver eggs and flour before the strat of the Lent fast which starts tomorrow - the origins of pancake day.

For the past 11 years, it has also marked the start of a pancake race which revived traditions going back almost as long.

But today's event has been cancelled because of demands made by health and safety, insurance companies and new rules under which police and the local council can charge for the expense of closing down streets.

It was the health and safety regulations which were the last straw, says the Dean of Ripon, the Very Rev. Keith Jukes. There are so many forms to fill in that volunteers who organised and marshalled the race in the past gave up.

One of the organisers, Counc Bernard Batemen, complained: "The paper work which started out as well-meaning has now gone overboard. It puts people off helping."