New metric road traffic signs are an extreme rarity these days - apart from a few dual height and dual width signs that a handful of authorities seem to go in for, causing confusion and wasting money in the process.

So it was a surprise today to see a newish-looking white-on-blue sign in the unique and beautiful Essex village of Coggeshall proclaiming: "Weight Limit 7.5T 500 metres ahead".

I imagine it wil be swiftly dealt with

So I'm happily driving along a nice little road in Essex village and I see a sign. Weight Limit 7.5T 500 metres ahead, it says. I think to myself, 7.5T!?!?!? What does it mean when there's no space between the number and the unit??? Knowing that this is illegal, I worry that the law may recently have been changed and I might be misinterpreting the sign, but alas, I have left my copy of the European Directive on the use of measurements at home. Oh well, I think to myself, they probably meant to include a space. But all is well, because my truck has no magnetic materials or any flowing electric current that could generate a magnetic field, and 7.5 teslas is such a large field that I need not worry. 500 metres later, the bridge collapses and into the river I fall. Why didn't anyone warn me?

Martin: Know any lawyers that could help our truck driver?

;-)

re: "I imagine it will be swiftly dealt with"

REPLY: I learn that the offending illegal sign has indeed been removed, plus two other similar signs that were spoiling the village of Earls Colne in North Essex. Essex County Council Highways Department has been informed so that they can erect legal signs