A BRIGHT beam of light that has been shooting into the sky from a Worcester nightclub has been banned.

City council chiefs have warned Bushwackers that it faces legal action if it continues using the £5,000 light, which has dominated the city skyline and could be seen for miles around.

The council received several complaints from angry residents about the column of blue light coming from the grade II-listed Trinity Street venue earlier this month.

The beam could be seen clearly from outside Worcester's city boundary and residents claimed it was spoiling their view of the night sky.

The venue also landed itself in hot water 10 years ago for using a similar light but stopped after the council threatened to take action.

City council planning manager Paul O'Connor said people had alerted it to the club's latest lightshow.

It has now warned the owners the light constitutes an advertisement and needs consent which they would not get because of the effect on the listed building and city's historic conservation area.

Mr O'Connor added: "While we want a vibrant and active city we don't want there to be any proliferation of signage and a light beam is considered to be inappropriate, particularlyy as we've not got policies to reduce light pollution.

"Here we've got a light going into the night sky not doing anything other than causing a nuisance."

Michael Morris, of Penbury Street, off Ombersley Road, branded the beam highly intrusive. He added: "It makes the enjoyment of the wonders of the night sky in our already-polluted city even more difficult.

"This issue is important to all those who care about the environment and maintaining the character of our beautiful city and its gorgeous surrounding countryside."

Darren Pinches, co-owner of Bushwackers, said he began using the light at the start of the month but stopped days ago when told by the council.

He added: "Obviously we were just trying to enlighten the night trade to others out there. We'd have preferred to keep using it but understand the council has a job to do."

Michael Soper, spokesman for Contact International UK UFO Research said they had not had any calls from anyone suspecting the strange light to be extra-terrestrial.

He added: "I think people are quite used to laser light shows now but we did have a lot of calls of that nature in the 1980s and 1990s."