CHEEKY market traders, nicknamed "the three stooges", had shoppers baffled after rigging up a joke sign which claimed a fishmonger had netted a huge lottery win.

Hordes of shoppers in High Wycombe over the weekend saw the sign which proclaimed that Steve Watts, who runs Highland Fisheries, had not turned up "due to a huge win on the lottery".

Stunned customer Steve Hunt, from Pinions Road, in High Wycombe, said: "I couldn't believe it when I saw the sign. I thought 'you lucky so and so' and expected him to be driving around in a Jaguar with bikini-clad girls.

"The next thing I thought was 'I wonder where I will get my fresh fish from now'."

But, according to market manager Roy Bagley, the whole thing turned out to be a hoax carried out by fellow jokers Mark Putman and Simon Cass, who also run stalls in the High Street.

They had sneakily tied the cardboard sign to a skip near to their friend's pitch while Steve was away on holiday.

Yet, although Steve had been duped by his fellow stooges, he declined to give the game away when approached by The Star.

As he stood at his van on Tuesday he told The Star: "I can't talk to you about it. People have been bothering me all day. I have even talked to the nationals."

His friends were also keen to keep the joke going, saying that Steve had scooped a £4.9million win on the lottery.

But Roy the market manager said they are always playing gags on each other and are known as "the three stooges".

He added: "Those three are like schoolchildren and even whizz up and down the high street on a scooter. You should hear them at 7am when they start making jungle noises at each other."