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"This is just on another level": Low-traffic neighbourhood vandals set fire to bollard

"The fact that people are taking to arson to express their dislike of the bollards — it's absolutely disgraceful"...

Oxford's ongoing Low-traffic neighbourhood vandalism problem reached "another level" this week as a gang of hooded vandals melted one of the traffic-calming bollards in an arson attack.

Cllr Damian Haywood said the latest escalation is "absolutely disgraceful" after the bollards in Howard Street and Barnet Street were set on fire overnight on Sunday. Previously, some of the city's newly-installed LTN bollards and planters were vandalised less than 24 hours after installation.

'Human bollards', including Liberal Democrat councillor Andrew Gant, had also stepped in on Howard Street after repeated vandalism.

> Low-traffic neighbourhood 'human bollards' step in following repeated vandalism

But now vandals have resorted to burning the barrier, leaving the street impassable due to the melted wreckage.

"I'd like to think it was just a couple of, for want of a better expression, idiots," Cllr Haywood told BBC Radio Oxford.

"This is just on another level, they are really concerned now that people are taking to arson to express their views and express their dislike of the bollards. It's absolutely disgraceful.

"We won't be defeated by this. We are absolutely adamant that this trial will go ahead and we will continue to replace the bollards where we need to."

A sign telling drivers the "cones are there to protect your chassis" covered the burnt bollard briefly before being removed.

Main image: Josie Procter 

Dan joined road.cc in 2020, and spent most of his first year (hopefully) keeping you entertained on the live blog. At the start of 2022 he took on the role of news editor. Before joining road.cc, Dan wrote about various sports, including football and boxing for the Daily Express, and covered the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Part of the generation inspired by the 2012 Olympics, Dan has been 'enjoying' life on two wheels ever since and spends his weekends making bonk-induced trips to the petrol stations of the south of England.

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5 comments

Avatar
nordog | 1 year ago
2 likes

Revert to reinforced concrete bollards with black plastic covers then let idiot drivers plough into them. They love parking on narrow streets to slow the traffic down, Static traffic I call that.

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chrisonabike | 1 year ago
3 likes

"To save the street (for motor vehicle access) we had to destroy it".

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eburtthebike | 1 year ago
11 likes

A graphic illustration of the staggering level of entitlement felt by drivers.  Nothing must be allowed to obstruct their access to anywhere, ever, and just because most people want cars to be restricted, doesn't mean that the tiny minority of incurable petrol-heads won't resort to arson.  Eventually, their absurd, illogical and counterproductive actions will lead to death or serious injury, when they'll say they didn't mean to do it.

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janusz0 replied to eburtthebike | 1 year ago
3 likes

It's worth watching the start of Episode 1 of the Tour de France on the ITVHub, to see what a Cycling Utopia looks like. 

Avatar
ktache replied to janusz0 | 1 year ago
1 like

Mine would never be quite that wet...

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