Ludlow seems to have more than its fair share of street furniture bashing. I have lost track of how often street furniture in the town centre is bashed and broken. Signs on Castle Street, bollards at Bodenhams and on Old Street. It’s an expensive business. A coach company that demolished the Bodenhams bollard was sent a bill of £1,000 by Shropshire Council for a replacement. And it is not so long ago that Ludford Bridge was battered by a truck delivering tarmac for resurfacing at Tesco.
Now, a Belisha Beacon on Foldgate Lane outside the Co-op has been demolished. It is a curious incident. The junction is wide. Either a car came around the corner from Sheet Road and completely missed the junction – the road is 8.5m wide at this point and 25m wide at Sheet Road. Or someone reversed over the zebra crossing to hit the Belisha. It was certainly a hard knock and the vehicle must have been damaged. I asked the police if a traffic accident was reported. They said no.
I hope that if this Belisha Beacon ever gets replaced, the missing (for several years) blue-and-white mini-roundabout sign outside ‘Pets at Home’ will also be replaced. This particular sign is essential, because few vehicles are aware of the roundabout when leaving the Coo-op and other local premises – lack of white road paint also exacerbates the situation. I have lost count of the number of times I have almost been rammed when turning right into Foldgate Lane – it is a very similar tale with visitors and neighbours. The current yellow warning plastic-bagged ‘stump’ is a disgrace – and surely dangerous – as it has electrical wiring within. To my mind this sign is far more requiring of reinstatement than the other examples shown.