A recent inspection of black-and-gold finger post signs in Ely revealed a total of 92 separate metric distances which need amendment on a total of 8 finger post signs, all within about half a mile of the town centre, mostly close to the cathedral.

A curious feature of the signs is that all signs were in metric distances except signs to the Riverside (Marina) and railway which were all in fractions of a mile.

Cambridgeshire County Council conceded the signs were illegal, then said they'd file down the metric distances and replace them with British distances, but have done nothing and there has been a squabble between the County Council which admits the signs are illegal and the District Council which says they are not. Of course, absolutely nothing has been done.

These have been programmed in for amendment. Two have been amended and two covered up, therefore 88 to go

T. Bennett, UKIP

Perhaps the reason for Ely having metres and 1/4 1/2 3/4 mile is that if we assume 1 mile = 1600 metres, then it has a certain ease to it. Whereas not everyone can do his 11 time table, needed for the yards to miles conversion.

Perhaps the metres and mile will end up co-existing. However the Kyle O'metre with its quadrasyllabic stupidity will not replace the mile (unless renamed Kay)

Robert stevens

ELY'S SIGNS DEMETRIFIED

I am able to report the successful completion of the demetrication of 11 finger-post signs in Ely, with a total of 62 double-sided fingers on them, i.e. a total of 124 plates were needed for the job. As 2 plates had ben erected earlier, we put in place 122 'Imperial' plates in a day which we are claiming as a new record for active demetricationists - unless anyone knows different.

The amendments were carried out by three UKIP Party members, with two trainees, one male, one female, also in attendance to learn, and take photos and video-record the 'happening'. The three main operatives were all dressed in yellow Council-style jackets with luminous bands i.e. to look like Council workmen.

We met at a sign half-a-mile from the town centre at 8.30am in perfect weather conditions - just a few light strato-cumulus clouds in a perfect blue sky all day until late afternoon. Most of the operation was carried out within the sight of the magnificent Ely Cathedral.

The proceedings got off to a bad start when the glue gun broke trying to squeeze out glue in the existing glue tube which had become somewhat hardened. Fortunately one of the team was able to buy a replacement within minutes plus a 'spare'.

Seven signs were amended before lunch, one during an extended lunch at The Waterside, Ely, and three after lunch. With three operatives at work, a fingerpost sign with 10 double sided fingers on it was amended in the space of 15 minutes.

Only on our tour of Ely did we discover that there were 11 metric signs to amend, not just 8 as previously researched. Fortunately, we had a supply of blank ready-painted plates and a supply of adhesive reflective lettering and numbers and were just able to make up enough new plates during lunch to deal with the extra three signs and all their fingers. Some on the spot paint-work was necessary on the plates since the plates had been painted recently and a few spots of paint came off as we we peeled off the adhesive letters and numbers.

The metric distances were between 25m and 710m and have now been replaced by Imperial distances of between '25 yds' and '1/2 m'. Of course we left the finger-post signs giving distances in fractions of a mile as they were, though bizarrely some of these read '1/4m' and others 1/4ml'.

Reaction from the public was mostly good, summarised by one Ely resident, a lady aged around 60, who said: 'Great - they're back in English, now we can understand them'. The only negative comments came from a couple of youngsters who shouted out: '3 Council workers to change one sign!' and a street trader (farmer's market) whose stall was just beneath one fingerpost sign. After learning what we were doing, he enquired rather wearily: 'Are you guys going to let me sell in pounds and ounces, then?'. When we explained this was an unofficial operation by people committed to British weights and measures he was unfortunately not overly impressed and said: "Haven't you got better things to do on a Saturday?".

Four tubes of industrial glue were used during the operation. The total cost of the plates, top-quality adhesive, reflective weatherproof lettering and glue would be around £350 - £400 for the 124 plates used.

A press release is being prepared for issue to local press, radio and TV on Monday.

A great atmosphere in the 'team' with an almost carthartic element to the proceedings.

NOTE: A similar event is being planned for Lee Valley Regional Park (north London) in the near future. Details of the date, venue and time are not being posted on this bulletin board but I will give the details to anyone who enquires.

Tony Bennett, UKIP
Tel: 01279 635789

Yesterday, Ely's 62 new British finger-post signs were shown several times on Anglia TV (ITV) in 3 to 4-minute clips, between lunch-time and 11pm. On the later bulletins, Derek Norman was interviewed, explaining the reasons for the action, along with three members of the public and Chief Highways Engineer for East Cambridgeshire District Council, Mr Allen.

Derek, Committee Member of BWMA and Chairman of Hunts and Cambs Branch of the U.K. Independence Party, gave a good performance. The three men whose views were aired on TV respectively were: (1) a young man in his twenties who despite metric education said only really understood British distances and preferred them (2) a man who said it didn't matter what signs were given on the signs so long as they pointed in the right direction, and (3) a man who claimed he didn't understand what yards, feet and inches were (pull the other one).

But the most telling contribution was from the Council man, Mr Allen who *fully conceded on TV that the signs were illegal i.e. did not comply with the regulations*. He went on to give a highly defensive performance claiming that the Council was taking a 'pragmatic' approach by not replacing the signs because the Council was short of money and had other priorities! There was *no criticism by him of the Ely operation* and, unlike Portsmouth, *no threats of reporting the matter to the Police nor promises to paint over the new Imperial distances.

As I was receiving news of these broadcasts I was at the same time following the day's events in Afghanistan where it was reported that the 'Northern Alliance' had captured a strategic town, Muzar-e-Sharif, from the Taliban, and were now going on to make 'significant advances' elsewhere in northern and western Afghanistan.

I had a real sense that the metricating authorities are now in retreat over metric road and pedestrian signs; their only proposed advance being the attempt in the new Traffic Signs Regulations to permit dual metric/British road width signs. If indeed they are now in confused retreat, then it's time to step up operations, not diminish them.

Following the Portsmouth and Ely operations and the concession that the metric pedestrian signs are not authorised, is not now the strategic moment to capitalise and achieve further advances?

In this context it is worth considering moves to cover over the metric element of dual metric/British height signs? After all, John Prescott himself said only last year that dual-system signs were 'confusing' to motorists...and how did Welsh language campaigners achieve success with their campaign of dual language road signs?

Covering over the metric heights with sticky tape only would almost certainly not be regarded as 'criminal damage'...and just think of the number of Council man-hours needed to go round peeling off a few inches of sticky tape!

"I walk slowly, but I never walk backwards" - Abraham Lincoln

Tony Bennett, UKIP

Thank you very much for your comprehensive account of the Ely operation. They updates are much appreciated.

Obviously, BWMA can only support action against illegal metric signs. Unfortunately, the use of metric on dual height signs is within the law.

Of course, the Welsh nationalists did not regard the law as an issue, as they targeted signs on the criteria of language, not legality. They won.

It is very significant that Ely admit the illegality of their signs. We believe they are the third such authority to do so. This increases the pressure on Portsmouth.

Over two years later, complete victory in Ely.

A recent ARM inspection revealed that the local Council has now completed an operation of removing all the Imperial plates erected by ARM on our 'raid' of 10 November 2001.

They have completely refurbished their signs, now in much better white-on-black instead of gold on black, and most importantly all now in Imperial (ARM used white lettering and numbers superimposed over Ely's former gold lettering - which made the words and numbers stand out much better).

There is just one aspect that makes the new job less than 100% satisfactory. It seems the Council did not have enough space to write the symbol 'yds' - because all they did orginallly was to manufacture the suffix 'm' for metres (these are cast iron finger posts where the letters and numbers stand proud).

To resolve this probem, the Council has elected to use the new suffix 'y' instead of yards or 'yds'.

At first sight, '300y' does look a bit odd. But, who knows, it might catch on.

CUE: Martin to tell us that it is yet another flagrant breach of that EEC measurements Directive, EC 181/80. But the European Commission can't do an awful lot about it

Cherry Lane: 300 years

Might be confusing to Europeans that are only familiar with the SI abbreviations.

Surely 300 yottas?

Sounds like a polish car to me!