BRUSSELS eurocrats have banned the sale of small peaches, but two Brighton stores are hitting back.

At midnight on Tuesday EC chiefs ruled that it would be illegal to sell peaches between 51mm and 56mm in diameter - just as Asda took delivery of 6.5 tonnes of the fruit.

But rather than dump the lot, Asda stores at Brighton Marina and Hollingbury will tomorrow give away their entire stock of size-D peaches!

Aspokeswoman for Asda said: "The smaller peaches are very popular, especially with children because they fit nicely in lunch boxes.

"With moans about prawn cocktail crisps and criticism of our chocolate, we thought we had heard it all from Brussels.

"But this particular bit of euro-nonsense is ripe for reform.

"This is one occasion where we'll be happy to be accused of breach of the peach!"

Asda believes the ban is to protect Italian growers who are suffering from over-production in recent years.

Tomorrow, "greeters" at the two stores will hand out free size-D peaches to children while stocks last.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.