Road sign blunder sends drivers to Bolton and Zurich

Misspelt road signs have been diverting drivers in Derbyshire 70 miles north to Egerton in Bolton and to the Swiss production company, Hillton, based in Zurich.

The temporary signs near the A38 were intended to direct traffic to nearby Hilton and Egginton - and South Derbyshire district councillor Grahame Andrew said this was the second time National Highways had made the error.

"In October last year, exactly the same signs were all over the village and it was pointed out to National Highways but they don’t seem to have done a awful lot about it," he said.

National Highways apologised for the misspelling and said the signs would be replaced.

Work on the A38 bridge is scheduled to last 18 months.

There are a handful of identical signs positioned around the village of Hilton, all with the same spelling error, which Andrew, who represents Hilton on the council, also questioned for their geographical accuracy.

“It’s pointing to Hilton being that way [left]. We’re already in Hilton and the rest of Hilton is that way [right],” he said beside the sign placed on the A5132.

“Apart from all those issues, it’s fine,” he said, jokingly.

Despite seeing the funny side, South Derbyshire district councillor Jayne Davis, who also represents Hilton, said the signage was “confusing” and “not helpful at all".

“I’d like to see it changed but not at the taxpayer’s expense, especially as it’s the second time this has happened,” she said.

Andrew described National Highways as "utterly incompetent" and said he had not received a reply or seen the problem fixed when he reported the issue on the first occasion last year.

On Thursday, National Highways said, "We apologise for the spelling error and have moved swiftly to correct the signage.

“As soon as we were made aware of the misspelling we worked with our contractors to get new signage which will be put in place tonight."

The Egginton/Hilton mistake is not the first local public misspelling to draw public attention.

The Pingle Academy, in Swadlincote, accidentally congratulated its pupils for record-breaking "GSCE results" in 2019.

Deb Holland, the assistant principal at the time, admitted she had not spotted the typo when she proofread it.

Other blunders further afield included the renaming of the city of "Worchester" and another sign that spelt Carlisle as "Carlise".

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