We have been keeping a record of claimed reasons for erecting illegal metric signage (see message from 'pip' on another thread). These include:
"We've done it to help athletes, who normally run in metric distances" (Southend Council, re signs on Southend promenade)
"We've done it to make foreign tourists feel more welcome" (Portsmouth, Hastings)
"The government says the regulations are about to be changed so it saves money to put them up in metric now" (East Cambridgeshire District Council (Ely))
"I thought all the signs had to be in metric now" (Project Manager, Construction Company)
"The relevant regulations are very complex and obscure" (Brentwood Borough Council)
"We're trying to encourage young people to visit the Park and they're all taught metric now" (Marketing Manager, Lee Valley Park)
"I don't know - the person who decided it has left now" (Lambeth)
"We wanted them in Imperial but the charity who funded the signs [an Irish heart charity funded partly by the E.U. - ed] insisted they were in metric, otherwise they wouldn't give us the money" (Eastbourne Borough Council)
"They were put up in error" (Manchester, Northampton, Lewisham, Islington, Harlow, Chelmsford)
"We're gradually moving over to metric, most of our younger people are metric trained, and anyway the government insist we do everything in metric now" (National Trust)
"It's only in theory that signs have to be in Imperial now" (Kent County Council)
"The District Council recommended us to give the distance in metres" (Pub Owner)
"The Road Width Order was in metric as required by government regulations, so that's why we put the road width signs up in metric" (Brentwood Borough Council again)
"We're trying to move forward" (Lee Valley Park again)
"It's not our policy to do signage in metric but Birmingham City Council put up the money and they said it must be in metric" (British Waterways Board re Canal Basin, Birmingham)
"British Waterways Board decidd the signs should be in metric, not us" (Birmingham City Council re Canal Basin, Birmingham)
"It's an E.U. Directive. We have to comply, even though it means a time-consuming and expensive process of changing all our bye-laws. We've changed the signs now in anticipation of the bye-laws being changed" (Environment Agency re Km/h signs on the Rivers Nene and Thames)
"The signs are on private land so any regulations don't apply to us" (Lee Valley Park again)
"These are pedestrian signs and The Traffic Sign Regulations don't apply to them" (Lee Valley Park again).
At present, Southend Council is ahead in the competition for the most absurd reason for erecting metric signage
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