Silly signs

[Athy]

25 minutes ago, Murflynn said:

may I propose Justin, the Vagabond, Churchie and the WC.  

Certainly you may. Who are they?

 

You think it may be justin time, then? If so, I see the relevance of a W.C.

Edited October 23, 2020 by Athy

[StephenA]

4 hours ago, Murflynn said:

how about the infamous illuminated sign on the M4 that for many years displayed the message:

 

THIS SIGN IS NOT IN USE

To be fair that's not silly - it's like pages in formal documents saying "This page intentionally left blank". 

[alias]

3 minutes ago, StephenA said:

To be fair that's not silly - it's like pages in formal documents saying "This page intentionally left blank". 

Pedant warning. In that case the page hasn't been left blank.

[StephenA]

15 minutes ago, alias said:

Pedant warning. In that case the page hasn't been left blank.

Yes I know - but you know exactly what it means.

[matty40s]

5 hours ago, Murflynn said:

how about the infamous illuminated sign on the M4 that for many years displayed the message:

 

THIS SIGN IS NOT IN USE

There was one in the old central reservation of the M6 in Cheshire that said "End" for years. 

[Ronaldo47]

Here's one taken a few years ago at our local Civic Amenity Site after they changed from dumping everything on a single pile to containers for different categories of rubbish.    

 

Edited October 23, 2020 by Ronaldo47
Typos, clarification

[David Mack]

3 minutes ago, Ronaldo47 said:

 

No doubt much used by the local care homes after the start of  the pandemic!

[Ronaldo47]

Not Essex's solution to care in the community, rather a container with a ground-level door you could walk into instead of having to climb a staircase.  The sign only lasted a couple of weeks! It was soon replaced by something less ambiguous (and less amusing) but I didn't photograph that. 

Edited October 23, 2020 by Ronaldo47
Typos, clarification

[Hudds Lad]

[PeterScott]

[Machpoint005]

Why is that silly? Do you know anything about tides?

[Alan de Enfield]

21 minutes ago, Machpoint005 said:

Why is that silly? Do you know anything about tides?

That looks like the Morecambe 'flats'.

 

 

Those Chinese cockle pickers didn't know about tides.

 

The Morecambe Bay cockling disaster occurred on the evening of 5 February 2004 at Morecambe Bay in North West England, when at least 21 Chinese undocumented immigrant labourers were drowned by an incoming tide after picking cockles off the Lancashire coast.

Edited October 23, 2020 by Alan de Enfield

[Hudds Lad]

so no disco dancing on Morecambe flats then according to that sign ?

[PeterScott]

3 hours ago, PeterScott said:

2 hours ago, Machpoint005 said:

Why is that silly?...

2 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

That looks like the Morecambe 'flats'. ...

Cardiff Bay - could be any sandy coast.

 

Why not ban women too?

 

There was only one sign: applies just here across these rocks? Or all the way along ...? Safe where there isn't a sign?

 

Could be worrying about tides. Or soft sand. Or because it's a nature reserve. ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Momac]

9 hours ago, PeterScott said:

Cardiff Bay - could be any sandy coast.

 

Why not ban women too?

 

There was only one sign: applies just here across these rocks? Or all the way along ...? Safe where there isn't a sign?

 

Could be worrying about tides. Or soft sand. Or because it's a nature reserve. ...

 

 

I  would guess  the sign was erected when the stone armour  was placed or topped up and the designer or contractor  did a risk assessment as required by the CDM regulations and decided a sign prohibiting idiots from walking across the stone  armour would be sufficient rather than a balustrade. No sign  should really be necessary  but these days its necessary to assume idiots are quite common.

 

 

 

[Higgs]

29 minutes ago, MartynG said:

 

I  would guess  the sign was erected when the stone armour  was placed or topped up and the designer or contractor  did a risk assessment as required by the CDM regulations and decided a sign prohibiting idiots from walking across the stone  armour would be sufficient rather than a balustrade. No sign  should really be necessary  but these days its necessary to assume idiots are quite common.

 

Litigation was probably at the forefront of thinking to put a sign there, and less costly than a six foot fence with barbed wire to spoil the access. 

 

 

Edited October 24, 2020 by Higgs

[Laurie Booth]

14 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

That looks like the Morecambe 'flats'.

 

 

Those Chinese cockle pickers didn't know about tides.

 

The Morecambe Bay cockling disaster occurred on the evening of 5 February 2004 at Morecambe Bay in North West England, when at least 21 Chinese undocumented immigrant labourers were drowned by an incoming tide after picking cockles off the Lancashire coast.

Grange Over Sands ?

[dor]

1 hour ago, MartynG said:

 

I  would guess  the sign was erected when the stone armour  was placed or topped up and the designer or contractor  did a risk assessment as required by the CDM regulations and decided a sign prohibiting idiots from walking across the stone  armour would be sufficient rather than a balustrade. No sign  should really be necessary  but these days its necessary to assume idiots are quite common.

 

 

 

One of the things I liked about Australia is that they would put up a sign warning you of a dangerous situation, but not actually banning you from going to it or putting a fence up.

[IanD]

42 minutes ago, dor said:

One of the things I liked about Australia is that they would put up a sign warning you of a dangerous situation, but not actually banning you from going to it or putting a fence up.

Isn't that because given the venomous nature of much of the local wildlife they'd have to close the whole of Australia?

[Mike Todd]

50 minutes ago, dor said:

One of the things I liked about Australia is that they would put up a sign warning you of a dangerous situation, but not actually banning you from going to it or putting a fence up.

As I understand it, that is not considered acceptable under UK H&S. You cannot exempt you or your organisation from liability from a known risk just by putting up a warning. You actually have to take reasonable steps to prevent others from harming themselves. 

 

Putting up  Trespassers will does not allow you to erect a lethal electric fence just inside the property! Reasonableness figures in H&S as in other legislation deliberately to allow variation under circumstances without having to write endless documents which no-one ever reads. Also applies to shooting at intruders as a farmer discovered to his (and the intruder's) cost.

[Jerra]

1 hour ago, Laurie Booth said:

Grange Over Sands ?

IIRC they were working out of Morecambe itself after having been brought from Liverpool by the gang master.

[Ronaldo47]

I have seen a warning like that on the Suffolk coast where they have similar armouring, the tide diesn't go out far, there is a balustrade, and the sands are firm. 

Edited October 24, 2020 by Ronaldo47

[Machpoint005]

The fact remains that it's a prohibition, not a warning. Joe Public doesn't need to know "why".

 

[Rob-M]

[PeterScott]