Roadworks red tape has locals lost for words
AN ELECTRICITY company has caused confusion for motorists after it refused to paint the letters OW in a SLOW sign for drivers on a village road.
Motorists approaching the 3ft high white letters leading up to a T-junction see the SL but nothing else.
UK Power Networks resurfaced the road after laying new cables in Boxford, Suffolk, but said they were forbidden from painting the letters OW because they were “outside the permitted area”.
A company spokesman said: “Our contractors resurfaced part of the road, including the markings on the new surface.
“The remainder of the road markings, i.e. the remainder of the word SLOW, were outside the area we were permitted to remedy by the county council.”
The extraordinary decision has left villagers expressing their concern about council red tape.
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David Lamming, whose home is near the stretch of road at Sand Hill, accused the energy company of “a lack of joinedup thinking”.
He said: “What would it have cost the contractors to repaint the full word SLOW? It’s quite amazing.”
Cafe owner Will Chaytor said: “It’s a bit daft, isn’t it? It’s a comedy ending to a sorry tale of roadworks.
“What we’re left with is like a bit of cryptology – a secret code.”
The company has been involved in a long-running row with residents who demanded they resurface the road after laying electrical cabling to a new housing development last September.
A Suffolk County Council spokesman said they “would have expected the energy company to complete the repainting work while they were there”.
He added: “Regardless of whether we get UK Power Networks to go back and correct that defect, or do it ourselves, we will look to get it sorted.”