'Not in Barton-on-Humber'

News reaches us of what happened a few months ago when North Lincolnshire Council sent Barton-on-Humber Parish Council a set of brand new metric footpath signs for the village.

The Town Clerk, Ivan Glover, told the Scunthorpe Telegraph at the time: "I believe the signs are illegal and I am surprised North Lincolnshire Council decided to send them. They may be lawful in Europe, but not in Barton-on-Humber".

This led to a discovery that the Council had erected other illegal metric signs in the District, which have now been taken down by a reluctant Council through gritted teeth.

The North Lincolnshire Press Spokesman said at the time: "The signs used metric measurements to fit in with the Ordnance Survey maps that are marked out in one kilometre grids. The walks are the same length, whether in miles or kilometres" (!).

This quote has now been entered in ARM's list of worst excuses for a metric sign, alongside Southend Council's: "they're for the benefit of athletes who normally run in metric distances".

Polly