The baffling ban on Coral advert that has alarm bells ringing loudly

Nine years ago Tim Bell, the late public relations and advertising guru who helped mastermind Margaret Thatcher's three general election victories, was invited to address the annual meeting of the Association of British Bookmakers.

He took the opportunity to tell the assembled executives that the industry's advertising was "appalling" and that two companies' ads were so bad they forced him to turn the television off. Indeed, one of them upset him so much that he told his audience he would kill one of the characters involved should they ever cross his path.

However, Bell's advice fell on stony ground. Operators continued to produce television adverts which in turn annoyed viewers, damaged the industry's reputation and fell foul of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).