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Traffic Sign – Disallowed!
I thought I should share this little story with you all, in the hope that you don’t get caught out like I did…
A (fairly good) customer of mine asked if I’d make him a back to back sign that he could affix to a lonesome grey post that occupied a small patch of grass opposite the entrance to his site. “Just my company name and an arrow, black on reflective yellow please” he said. “Great”, I thought as I knew I had a couple of 900x600mm grey sign blanks that had been sitting around for months and plenty of post clips. Couple of metres of yellow reflective and some black vinyl and bobs your uncle…
I emailed him a proof, which he duly approved and I cut the vinyl, weeded, applicated and in a little over half an hour had made the signs ready for despatch. Jobs-a-goodun, or so I thought!
This is where it all started going wrong… on looking at the proof again he then said he wanted it to look more like a traffic sign, the tourist information type ones and could I use the exact font the Department of Transport use. I told him I’d used Gill Sans, not a million miles away, and that this is the closest font I’d be prepared to use as the last time I looked I wasn’t an approved contractor to his local authority and therefore wasn’t allowed to go round putting up traffic signs wherever HE thought he’d like one.
The (perhaps not so good) customer then “googled” for the road sign font and found a copy of “Transport Medium” on some dodgy website and challenged me as to why he had been able to find it so easily and download it to his computer, and therefore if he could use it why couldn’t I?
At this point I rang the Department of Transport for the official line on this. They told me I had acted responsibly, and also pointed out that the lonesome grey post probably belonged to the council and that the customer would have to seek their permission before he used it, and more importantly that by erecting a traffic sign with an arrow on it directing traffic onto his site he could in fact be causing a potential hazard.
I put all this in an email to my customer, and stressed that I was just trying to be helpful as I didn’t want to put up a sign only to be told to take it down again.
I haven’t heard from him since!
Moral of this story? I dunno, but if anyone wants a couple of 900x600mm signs covered in yellow reflective they’ll probably make a good coffee table or something…
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1 Reply
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Wayne, I had almost the exact same experience here.
You did the right thing. Here, I found out it is a big fine if the police find you putting up directional signage without council approval.
My client thought I was being a wimp for not ‘giving it a go’ but when I suggested he write me a letter promising to pay a fine if I got one, I have not heard from him since.
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