EX-employees of Teignbridge's tourist information centres have claimed they were forced out of their jobs by poor management and bullying tactics from Teignbridge Council officers.

The allegations come as the district authority re-launch the tourist information centres in Newton Abbot, Dawlish and Teignmouth.

One past volunteer, who worked at the Newton Abbot TIC in Courtenay Street for nearly 10 years and wished to remain anonymous, said that she and her colleagues at the centre in Courtenay Street were 'treated like dirt' and eventually driven to leave after continued abuse from tourism managers in Forde House.

The ex-member of staff was one of six volunteers who left the centre on August 12.

One member of staff was signed off from work with stress-related illness. She is still off work now and receiving counselling at Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital at the council's expense.

'Unfortunately there were some officers at the council who were jealous of the staff's knowledge of tourism and they made it very obvious,' said the ex-volunteer. 'They suppressed any new initiatives and made it impossible for us to do our job. They knocked all ambition out of us and our colleagues and eventually people started becoming ill.

'When my colleague's illness started they told her she was paranoid, but I never saw any evidence of that. She was a very straight-forward person and very good at her job.

'I refused to go off ill, to give them the satisfaction but in the end I had to leave too,' said the ex-volunteer. 'I live alone and these people were like my family. It was such a traumatic time walking out that I couldn't get out of bed for three days.'

Similar allegations have been made by Carol Elliott, an information provision professional who worked as a paid tourist information officer in the Teignmouth Centre last year

Mrs Elliott left the centre in August after a confrontation with a Teignbridge officer. She says that the considerable knowledge and experience of staff was ignored in favour of 'prettifying' the service.

'Things were thrown out of the centre without any consultation at all by people with no experience of the industry at all,' she said. 'People would come back from holiday and find everything altered.

'People and centres were played off against each other - each one told that the other was more successful etcetera. We were constantly being be-littled and it just drove people with all this experience and knowledge right into the ground.

'During the jubilee last year I was working flat-out for months and my personal life began to suffer. At one point my teenage daughter even left home for five days and I realised that I had become emotionally unfit. I knew then that if I didn't leave soon, I would become ill.

'I now work just two days in a shop. The money is less but at least I am valued by both customers and staff.'

At this time Mrs Elliott was filling the role of her manager who was off work having suffered a serious illness. In Dawlish, another member of staff was taking the anti-depressant Prozac.

'In my view, the health problems in Newton Abbot, Teignmouth and Dawlish can be directly attributed to certain officers in Forde House.'

Karen Christie, leisure and tourism officer at Teignbridge, said the allegations of personality clashes were simply personal opinion.

'Obviously people go off sick from time to time,' she said. 'I can confirm that one member of staff is off sick at the moment but I cannot say that it is stress related.

'The team at the Newton Abbot centre last year were very close and they have obviously decided that with one member of staff away they didn't want to go on working at the centre.

'I would not endorse any allegations that there was animosity between staff in the leisure and tourism office and the TIC. That is just a personal opinion.

'We have kept the centre open and it is flourishing. For instance this weekend we have two open days which have brought a lot of publicity . I would imagine that this is why this old news has been resurrected.'

Councillor Sylvia Russell, Teignbridge executive spokesman for economy and tourism, said: 'I do not think there is anything sinister going on and there have been no complaints made to me or, as far as I am aware, any other councillors.'