‘Tamper-proof’ sign to give thieves a rude awakening
IT found itself on the map of Britain’s naughtiest place names thanks to mentions by the late TV presenter Sir Terry Wogan.
But the hamlet of Cock Bridge in Aberdeenshire is taking action to stop souvenir hunters who keep stealing its road signs.
Since the summer, the tiny community has been without a visible name yet again after thieves snatched two replacements.
Now, Aberdeenshire Council has promised villagers new signs with more robust ‘tamperproof’ fixings – or steel clamps which can only be removed with specialist tools – to try to prevent further disappearances.
Sir Terry made Cock Bridge a household name on his BBC Radio 2 show in the late 1990s during traffic reports. The A939 Cock Bridge to Tomintoul road often disappears under a blanket of snow in winter.
Sir Terry, who died aged 77 in 2016, regularly made fun on air of the local authority’s inability to keep it open – until a resident wrote in to say it was their postmistress, Mrs MacKay, who actually shovelled the snow and she was doing the best job she could.
Other cheeky names that face a similar sign theft issue include Shitterton in Dorset and Twatt on Orkney.