A South Lakeland traveller was amazed to be able to re-enter Britain from foot-and-mouth infected African states with no sign of disease control measures.

David Newell, who lives in Kendal and works at Field and Track outdoor shop in Ambleside, said he arrived at Manchester Airport last Thursday wearing the boots in which he had trekked through the foot-and-mouth infected countries of Namibia and Botswana.

Mr Newell, a keen walker, said he was shocked to find no customs officers taking an interest in the boots, which he feared could carry infected muck.

He said he had assumed that post foot-and-mouth, Britain would have strict biosecurity measures similar to those in Australia and New Zealand where travellers arriving from countries with foot-and-mouth must disinfect their shoes.

"I'm going to disinfect all my stuff over the next few days - not everybody is going to do that.

I could quite easily be re-infecting the county.

I just thought that was madness.

I don't want it to happen again, but I think it could happen very easily," he said.

The NFU has been lobbying the government to tighten up restrictions at points of entry into Britain, particularly from foot-and-mouth infected countries.

Spokeswoman Gill Shearer said the farming community's main concern was about illegal imports of meat from countries where the disease is endemic.

But she added: "There is some risk, albeit small, that if he had walked out there and picked up some muck carrying the virus, and brought his boots home and gone walking in the Lake District, he could have spread it."

She said the NFU was disappointed that the Government has not done more in this area, particularly as it would be very easy to ask people entering Britain if they had come into contact with farm land and then take appropriate measures.

HM Customs and Excise spokesman Robert Buxton said: "Last year 89 million people passed through Customs and Excise controls.

That is more than the entire population of the UK.

"It would be impossible to stop and search them all.

If we had disinfectant mats, there would be nothing to stop

people carrying their boot through in their bags.

"We have to balance the needs of modern travel and trade of today with the risks." He said information and advice was on display at ports and airports and added HM Customs and Excise worked with DEFRA to tackle disease risks.

l On a recent trip to South Africa, last year's NFU county chairman, farmer Gordon Capstick, and his wife Mary, passed through customs at Manchester Airport without seeing a single sign warning about the risks of importing animal or human diseases.

Mrs Capstick said: "There was absolutely nothing in the way of controls when we passed through at around 7.30 in the morning."