UK: Polish roads signs in Cheshire

[Harold F. Schiffman]

How Polish drivers are kept on track in Cheshire

As if road works were not bad enough, drivers in Cheshire have a new
hazard to contend with - road signs in Polish. They have been put up to
prevent immigrants who cannot speak English from getting lost in a
diversion.

Signs of madness: The sign in the foreground reads 'DIVERSION A49 for
Whitchurch and nearby places' [Go to original message for image.]

Cheshire County Council claim the eight temporary signs are needed because
there are large Polish populations in Crewe and Whitchurch, in
neighbouring Shropshire, following the 2004 expansion of the EU. They said
that police had received numerous complaints of Polish drivers getting
lost and causing traffic mayhem. But residents have condemned the council
for pandering to political correctness. Paul Walker, 55, spotted these
signs on the A49 in the Cheshire village of Ridley. "I'm not a racist or
against Polish people in any way," he said. "But it struck me as the most
ludicrous example of political correctness I've ever come across. "How can
anyone justify spending taxpayers' money on this?"

Sign of the times: This Polish road sign translates as 'For A49 to
Whitchurch turn right at next junction. [Go to original message for
image.]

Tory MP Philip Davies added: "It's absolutely bonkers, but what worries me
is that once one council starts, others follow." Even officials at the
Polish Association in London could not see the point of the signs. "It
seems very strange, I can't imagine why they are needed," a spokesman
said. Council engineers defended the signs, saying they were paid for by
the contractor and not the taxpayer. Steve Kent, highway engineer for
Cheshire County Council, said: "These signs have absolutely nothing to do
with political correctness. It is a practical and commonsense approach to
a problem. "On several occasions last year, we found that Polish-speaking
drivers were failing to understand diversion signs and were arriving at
sections of major roads that we had closed off. In some cases, that caused
congestion as we had to reverse them out of the area.

"In other cases, they would drive on the footpath and thunder past a work
gang, which obviously has safety implications." Up to 265,000 Poles have
come to Britain legally in the last two years, prompting the launch of
several services aimed specifically at them. On Wednesday, Yorkshire Bank
became the first in Britain to launch a telephone service in Polish.
Lloyds TSB has already opened its first Polish branch in Manchester. And
last month, signs written in Polish advertising NatWest's new bank account
aimed at migrant workers sprang up on hoardings across the country.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23385653-details/Road+signs+in+Polish+-+bonkers+says+Tory+MP/article.do

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