The pothole vigilante
Fed-up villager whose fake road signs shamed council into fixing holes
SHE might not look like a vigilante, but for months this middle-aged mother has led a secret life shaming her council about the state of the roads.
Angie Abingdon, 53, has sneaked out in the middle of the night to put up fake road signs warning about the danger of potholes.
She changed a No Road Markings warning to read No Road, Just Holes, and made another reading Caution, Third World Roads Ahead.
When the potholes beside the first sign were not repaired, she replaced it with the words No Road, Still Holes.
The covert campaign mocking her council in the Cotswolds became the talk of the area – particularly as no one knew who the pothole prankster was.
But last night, the actress owned up to being the mischief-maker.
She said: ‘I told hardly anybody – only very close friends. It was a bit naughty and I didn’t want to get into trouble.’
The mother- of-two, who also teaches IT, created the signs on her computer and stuck them around the Gloucestershire village of Kemble under the torchlight from her 15-year-old daughter Becca’s iPhone.
Mrs Abingdon, who lives with husband David, became angry after a number of cars were damaged – particularly as Gloucestershire council’s road repairs never seemed to last.
But the final straw was when her 18-year-old son George hit a deep hole in his new Ford Focus. Luckily, it escaped serious damage, but even though she warned the council about the hole, eight more cars were damaged before it was fixed. She said: ‘I wanted to make people think about it in a different way. I just got creative. It was great fun. I just took it into my own hands.’
Last month Gloucestershire council said it had allocated an extra £1million for road repairs.
Mrs Abingdon said she hoped her signs had spurred officials to act, adding: ‘It spread the word. It created a lot of awareness. I think I have had an impact in an incognito way.’ Villagers spent weeks debating the identity of the joker, who first struck in March. Mrs Abingdon said no one knew it was her, adding: ‘I think they will be surprised. But it was a bee in my bonnet.’
She said even when the holes were repaired, the work was shoddy. She added: ‘They fill up a hole with a bit of Tarmac and it all falls apart again. It has been botched again and again. The roads are in a Third-World state.’
Highways councillor Vernon Smith said Gloucestershire council aimed to fix potholes within 28 days of them being reported.
He added: ‘ This year we’ve already fixed 35,000 potholes.’