An archery expert has been banned from a pier because he keeps on winning a bow and arrow game.

Sharpshooter Percy Goonewardene, 75, is so accurate, the Palace Pier was forced to limit him to one game a week, to stop him clearing its entire stock of cuddly toys.

But Percy, who promotes himself as a modern Robin Hood, insisted all he wanted to do was distribute toys to needy children at Christmas.

Now the pier has decided to ban him altogether because Percy refuses to keep to the agreement.

Percy, 75, said: "Once or twice, I sneaked on to the pier and won a prize but now they won't let me win even once a week. Last week, I tried to go on the pier and two big men came up to me and told me to leave. They've banned me.

"I used to collect the prizes until I had a big bundle and then I would give them to children at Christmas but now I can't even do that."

Two years ago, Percy hit the headlines following a report in The Argus about his antics. The pier was so dismayed by his profit-busting accuracy, they decided to limit him to one game a day.

At the time, a spokesman said: "We would never ban anyone from a game because they were too good. But Percy could easily walk off with all the prizes. There has to be a limit."

Since then, pier bosses decided to lengthen the limit on Percy's sessions to once a week.

Percy, of Kents Road, Haywards Heath, learnt his archery skills in Scotland as a boy and his hero is the late American hunter Howard Hill.

His skills mean he manages to win the bow and arrows game despite, he says, having to use the pier's inferior equipment.

Percy, a former technical illustrator, joked: "Their bows are pretty dodgy. They shoot upwards. But I know which is the best one to use."

Clare Wedger, a spokeswoman for Brighton Pier, said: "We don't want to stop anyone from coming on the pier and, in the case of Mr Goonewardene, we reached a compromise, which allowed him access to the sideshow games once a week.

"However, Mr Goonewardene has not honoured this previous agreement and therefore, unfortunately and with much regret, we have had to stop him from coming on to the pier for a period of time.

"We wish Mr Goonewardene all the best and hope he can put his skills as an exceptional marksman to some other use."

She promised that the ban would be reviewed in the New Year.