Metric rebel wins 'sign' battle

Tony Bennett on a previous protest

A "metric martyr" is celebrating after a public park admitted it was wrong to change footpath signs from imperial to metric.

Tony Bennett, from Harlow, Essex, and his group Active Resistance to Metrication, damaged about 15 signs in the 10,000-acre park which stretches from Ware in Hertfordshire to the East India Dock Basin in east London.

He claimed the signs were illegal under the 1994 Traffic Signs Regulations and changed the lettering from kilometres and metres to miles and yards.

Lee Valley Regional Park Authority said following legal advice it realised it was wrong to have metric signs as the law says distance posts should use imperial measurements.

Father-of-two Mr Bennett, who admitted "amending" some of the signs, was arrested by police following the damage in December 2001.

While we are not amused at his vandalism of the signs in the park they will be changed back to imperial measures

Peter Warren, park marketing director

No further action will be taken against the former UK Independence Party candidate following the park's decision, he said.

The market researcher said: "It's a shame Lee Valley Park had to waste police time and get me to spend 10 hours in police cells before admitting their mistake.

"Better late than never, I suppose.

"It's an imperial victory - the signs will be miles better."

'Not amused'

Peter Warren, marketing director for the park, said: "The law says that distance signs should be in imperial.

"While we are not amused at his vandalism of the signs in the park they will be changed back to imperial measures.

"Mr Bennett has to a degree won a victory. We were simply trying to live in the modern age."

Mr Warren said more than 100 signs on walking and cycling routes will now have to be changed at a cost of between £5,000 and £8,000.

Existing signs in the park with both imperial and metric distances on will remain, he said.

"They are probably technically against the law but we intend in the interests of common sense to keep them," said Mr Warren.

Imperial vigilante

Active Resistance to Metrication is currently selling postcards showing two members amending signs at Broxbourne Station, Hertfordshire.

Mr Bennett was sentenced to 50 hours community service in May after he was found guilty of stealing 29 metric road signs and daubing others with paint in Tenterden, Kent.

He was labelled an "imperial vigilante" by the sentencing District Judge Michael Kelly at Maidstone Magistrates Court.

Bennett had denied theft and criminal damage and said gas company Transco's signs were illegal and that he was preventing the law from being broken.

He buried the 29 signs in four locations underneath bushes and handed them in after he had appeared in court for the first time in October last year.