Sign pranksters strike again in West Country

Telegraph

29-05-2025

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.