They were drawn by Raymond Ruston more than 10 years ago when the roundabout next to the Stephen Joseph Theatre was replaced by a set of traffic lights.

The move was the subject of public outcry and Mr Ruston's cartoons show well-known Scarborough landmarks, such as Oliver's Mount and the lighthouse, covered with traffic signals.

The postcards were lost for a number of years but have recently been re-printed after being discovered at the back of a filing cabinet at Basics Plus in Salisbury Street.

Director Avis Turner said: "At the time there was as much of a hue and cry about a lot of traffic lights in Scarborough as there is now. He designed them as joke notelets but we didn't do anything with them."

Basics Plus provides sheltered work for people with learning disabilities and Mr Ruston was one of the centre's users who has just recently retired.

Mrs Turner said: "They are so topical, even now. It's deja-vu and I thought here we go again. We printed them for a joke and you never know, someone might be interested in them."

There has been an initial print run of 200 and she said it was an exercise to test the new printing venture – Basics Plus Print – which is being run by printer Neil Morris.

He said: "We are a traditional print unit. We have single off-set and a range of finishing equipment and a programmable guillotine."

Mrs Turner said the operation was an existing project which used to be run by North Yorkshire County Council.

She said the organisation operated a number of "mini-businesses" in a number of areas including furniture recycling, paper recycling, catering and conference facilities.

The cards cost 10p each and are available from Basics Plus in Salisbury Street. Anyone who would like further information about the organisation should contact (01723) 371335.