Latest news with #signswapping
Telegraph
29-05-2025
- General
- Telegraph
Sign pranksters strike again in West Country
Pranksters have struck again in the West Country after swapping more signs between towns. Motorists were left confused as they arrived in Midsomer Norton, Somerset, over the bank holiday weekend having been welcomed by incorrect signage. Practical jokers had replaced the sign for the town with one for Frome – some 10 miles away – leaving drivers scratching their heads. It comes just two months after a spate of sign swaps between a number of towns and villages which were condemned by councils across Somerset, Wiltshire and Dorset. Somerset council has warned the perpetrators that sign-swapping is 'an act of criminal damage' that has to be repaired at public expense. But one amused local, who only gave his name as Peter, said he thought the prank had been done as a tribute to a Dad's Army gag. 'I knew that it was wrong,' he told the BBC. 'Obviously I should be coming to Midsomer Norton so part of me thought it was some kind of Dad's Army tribute where they changed the signs around to confuse invading armies.' 'This is an act of criminal damage' Peter Sas, a local pensioner, said: 'It's either an ambitious prank, a sneaky invasion by the army of Frome, or a classic bungle by the daftest council in Bath and North East Somerset.' A Somerset council spokesman said: 'We are aware of this latest incident and remind those involved that this is an act of criminal damage which will need to be repaired at public expense. 'If residents see something like this happening they should contact the police.' In March, one sign from Camerton, in Somerset, appeared in the town of Bradford-on-Avon, in Wiltshire. The sign for Bradford-on-Avon then reappeared 70 miles away on the Isle of Portland, in Dorset. In Somerset, a sign for Waterlip was removed and taken to nearby Midsomer Norton. Bradford-on-Avon town council and Bath and North East Somerset council worked together to recover the sign, but soon afterwards another one from Dorset's Jurassic Coast appeared in Bradford-on-Avon. Parvis Khansari, Wiltshire council's corporate director, said that correcting the sign swapping was 'an unnecessary use of both time and money that could be better spent on providing a service to the public'. In September 2023, road signs in Caithness, Scotland, were removed and replaced by pranksters, with a local councillor condemning it as 'confusing for tourists' and 'a criminal offence'. In February, a prankster in Glasgow dressed as a race marshal sent 30 trail race runners on a 1.5 mile detour by hiding park signs.
BBC News
29-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
A Welcome to Frome road sign has been moved to Midsomer Norton
A Welcome to Frome road sign has been moved to another Somerset town 10 miles (16km) were left confused when the sign appeared on the B3355 going into Midsomer Norton on follows a spate of sign swapping across the West Country region in March, which included the welcome sign for Bradford-on-Avon in Wiltshire, ending up in Portland, Dorset - more than 60 miles (97km) away.A spokesperson for Somerset Council said: "We are aware of this latest incident and remind those involved that this is an act of criminal damage which will need to be repaired at public expense. If residents see something like this happening they should contact the police." Peter, who lives locally, said he was "amused" to see the sign change when he popped out to do his supermarket shop."I knew that it was wrong. Obviously I should be coming to Midsomer Norton so part of me thought it was some kind of Dad's Army tribute where they changed the signs around to confuse invading armies," he it as a "professional job", Peter said while signs nearby are often daubed with graffiti, he had never seen town welcome signs swapped around before."It seems like an April fools day prank but obviously we're not in April," he said. In the earlier incidents, four signs were confirmed to have reappeared in different areas, with those from Camerton, near Bath, Somerset, and the Jurassic Coast, in Dorset, appearing in involved said at the time that they believed it to be "a prank".
