MLA calls for action to be taken against those responsible for painting over 'London' on road signs

A DUP MLA has called on the Department of Infrastructure to take action against those who have painted over the word "London" on “Londonderry” road signs throughout the county. East Derry MLA Adrian McQuillan asked Minister for Infrastructure Chris Hazzard if it was an offence to paint over location names on road signs and how many prosecutions were made for the offence over the past five years. The Minister confirmed that it was an offence for anyone to “unlawfully and intentionally interfere with or damage a traffic sign.” The Minister also told Mr McQuillan the Department of Infrastructure had launched no formal investigations into specific incidents of graffiti covering place names on road signs and said that no prosecutions had been taken. “The member will, however, appreciate the many difficulties in proving a case in this regard, as the courts will require substantial and clear evidence before an effective prosecution can be brought,” Mr Hazzard said. Mr McQuillan said while driving along the A6 recently he noticed nearly every road sign in some areas with “London” painted out of “Londonderry.”. He said that he had also been notified about graffiti on signs in the Ballykelly area. “I would say it’s the one person that painted out every road sign because it was the same paint. I just think it’s a bit ridiculous, a bit petty,” he said. When asked if including both names on road signs could combat the problem, Mr McQuillan said the issue was less about which name was on the sign, but rather the image presented to tourists. “It’s messy, dirty-looking job whenever that’s done. Somebody’s doing it for a political reason because they don’t want London on the sign.” “It’s nothing to do with the name London, or Londonderry. It’s about the look of it and the message it sends out to tourists on what is a main arterial route from one city to another city,” he said. “This is 2016. We’ve moved on. We’re living together, we’re working together. What’s in a name?” He said he had often been contacted by constituents asking why signs were not being cleaned or replaced and revealed he had taken it upon himself to clean up signs in the past. Mr McQuillan said that he and several volunteers cleaned signs in the Aghadowey and Garvagh areas after Kilrea was painted on signs. Mr McQuillan told the County Derry Post that the Department should take more action on the issue and that for them to clean paint off signs was “the least we could ask for.” He added that he did not feel the department was doing enough to catch those who vandalised signs. “I think it’s up to the Department to notify the police and say they want this investigated,” he said. “It’s about time we sent a message out to these people that we won’t tolerate this.” He suggested that anyone caught vandalising signs should be made to clean it up and urged anyone involved to “catch yourself on.” Mr McQuillan concluded: “It’s 2016. We’ve all moved on. We want this country to survive. We want to have more tourists. We want people to have work. We want people to live together. We want people to go to school together. We want people to get on together. We want people to live and let live.”