But by Friday, the famous A64 Red Bus Cafe could be heading for the scrapheap under new roadside trading rules.

Owner Vicky Gray says she was shocked to hear a rival cafe owner had outbid her for the red bus's pitch, a few miles out of Leeds in the layby next to the A64 eastbound.

WHAT DO YOU THINK TO PLANS TO CLOSE IT? HAVE YOU EATEN THERE? WHAT ARE YOUR MEMORIES OF THE PLACE. EMAIL US BY CLICKING HERE. WE'LL PUBLISH THE LOT.

Last year, the YEP reported how Leeds City Council was to start running a tender system for roadside trading.

The council's decision came shortly after a national newspaper named the Red Bus one of the UK's top cafes.

Vicky said that as the layby was on private land – owned by a trust – she believed she did not have to put in a bid. But on Christmas Eve the council sent her a pack saying a tender was needed, and that it had to be in by January 11.

A council spokesman has since stressed the trading area the tender applies to is the layby, and not the land the layby is on.

Vicky of Seacroft, Leeds, claims she heard nothing more after Christmas – until last Thursday.

She said: "The council didn't even tell us we had lost it. The other cafe owner found out, was telling everyone and it got back to us. We had to ring the council to find out what was going on."

Vicky said she has been told if she continues trading after Friday she will face fines of £1,000 a day.

She added: "I am gutted, I have only been here seven months and my mum and dad invested thousands to get me started. I've really put my heart and soul into the place, this feels like my dreams are being smashed in front of me."

A spokesman for the Trustees of Viscount Pollingtons, which owns part of the layby, confirmed the bus was on private land.

He said: "I am not sure we claim the whole layby, but where the bus is is part of the wood and belongs to the Trustees of Viscount Pollingtons. This is the first we have heard of this situation."

The council spokesman said the tender scheme was an extension of a similar city centre system, which he said"ensures traders comply with legislation and introduces fair and open competition for the plots."

The spokesman stressed that the Red Bus owners were able to tender, but theirs was not considered the best bid.

He added: "The successful tender provides a visually improved unit from which to trade, had sound plans to improve the litter issues in the lay-by and was successful on financial terms."