IT has become an unofficial trademark for Glasgow, but a campaign has been launched to raise support for the removal of a traffic cone perched on one of Scotland's oldest bronze monuments.

For about twenty years, latenight revellers have climbed the statue of the Duke of Wellington - outside Glasgow's Gallery of Modern Art (Goma) - to replace the cone on the victor of Waterloo's head after it has been removed.

However critics say the socalled "Joke of Wellington" has caused serious damage to the 160-year-old statue and must be halted to prevent further deterioration. The Iron Duke has lost his spurs and half his sword, and scenes of the battle of Waterloo on the statue's plinth have been badly worn.

Gary Nisbet, an art historian, has started a campaign to save the historic monument. He said: "There is a bust of Wellington in Kelvingrove Gallery. If I put a traffic cone on its head, I would be arrested and rightly so.

"Wellington was a bampot.

He would have had no qualms about putting down the people of Glasgow if he had to. But this is an important, valuable, and beautiful statue which needs to be protected.

"Climbing on to it is an act of vandalism."

Mr Nisbet's sentiments have been backed by Charles Gordon, the city council leader, who said: "I don't like it and perhaps the joke has worn a bit thin. It is a minor act of vandalism.

He added: "I don't think anyone, drunk or sober, should be encouraged to climb up on the statue. It's dangerous."

However Alex Mosson, the city's former lord provost, once refused to be photographed for a publicity shoot at Goma unless somebody put a cone on the duke's head.

He said: "I love it. The duke is all pomp and circumstance but, with a cone on his head, it sums up Glasgow for me."