Martin Robins, the managing director of Cotswold stone quarriers Farmington, has been known to complain to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) about the use of the term \'Cotswold Stone\' for man-made products. Now the ASA had censured him for suggesting that Farmington Natural Stone Ltd (ie the company) is 2000 years old.

The offending advertisement appeared in this magazine. It said: "Approximately 2,000 years after we opened our doors (courtesy of the Roman invaders) we are still trading."

The point was that natural Cotswold stone was first used by the Romans and is still available. However, Haddonstone, in Northamptonshire, who have experienced the wrath of Robins, complained to the ASA and the ASA upheld the complaint.

Martin Robins said: "I agree that we can\'t have been here for 2,000 years as a limited company because the first Companies Act only came into being in 1830." He subsequently removed the \'Ltd\' from the ad when talking about Farmington stone.

And in true Robins style he milked the row for every column centemetre it was worth, especially as in a letter from the ASA his name was spelt incorrectly and they had got their own telephone number wrong.

He faxed the ASA to point out their errors. He said: "We take exception to your correspondence as our advertisement is not illegal or untrue. Do not write to me again."

He also faxed Adrian Coles, managing director of Haddonstone, with clippings from newspapers and letters of support received by Farmington. He said: "There has been very extensive publicity of this matter locally, which has generated a lot of interest and support. Details are attached of some of the matters and we would like to express our appreciation to you for all the good that the issue brought about."

Farmington have also complained that, for the second time in succession, their stone has failed to receive recognition for its part in a winning project in the Natural Stone Awards. The project was Wessex Water headquarters. The source of the stone was credited as Player\'s Quarry. There is no such quarry in the Cotswolds and Farmington say the stone was in fact theirs.