A TOURIST guide to north Dorset has been published missing out the locations of two of the district's most popular events, including the whole of Gillingham.

The Rural Dorset Tourism Partnership has distributed a pamphlet called Days out in Purbeck and Rural Dorset, but the accom-panying map fails to include Gilling-ham or the Motcombe Turnpike Showground after it was accidentally cropped and no one noticed.

Tourism officer Sarah Evans, for the partnership, said: "Gillingham was on the map but when the printers cropped the leaflet it disappeared. It is a mistake and it was an unfortunate oversight that it was not picked up at proof level."

The mistake has angered tourism workers in the town who feel they should have been consulted before the pamphlet was issued.

David Milsted, North Dorset District councillor and trustee of the Shaftesbury and Gillingham Tourism Service, said: "North Dorset District Council makes a substantial annual five-figure payment for a tourism service to promote North Dorset.

"When that means printing an expensive glossy map that misses out one of the biggest agricultural shows in the South West and the biggest community music festival in the district, you have to think this is a waste of taxpayers' money.

"The local tourism service was not consulted at all or we would certainly have made sure things were put right before it was too late."

The Gillingham Festival and the Gillingham and Shaftesbury Show are mentioned in the text of the leaflet, but the map itself stops at the Bell Street car park in Shaftesbury.

"We are making a big effort to promote green tourism' in our area so people can visit without gumming up our roads but to look at this map you would never know you could get here by train.

"There is nothing on the map to show that North Dorset can be accessed by train or that the northern part of the district exists," said Cllr Milsted.

The Rural Dorset Tourism Partnership is the brand name for the tourism services provided for both East and North Dorset.