Man told to stop cleaning dirty road signs around Warwick despite getting praise from the community

Over the last couple of weeks Cory Poynton started cleaning the signs after noticing how dirty they were across the county.

The 27-year-old said: “I suffer from really bad anxiety and panic attacks, over the past year or so I have noticed really dirty road signs across Warwickshire and it has always bothered me as they never get cleaned, recently I took it upon myself to go out and clean them myself.

“The reason I chose to do this was it helps my anxiety and keeps me occupied whilst out doing it so it almost takes my mind off of the panic attacks and anxiety and so on.

“Recently I posted on a local Warwick group to ask if it was a good idea and I had over 200 reactions so I thought okay let’s do something about it.

“A few days later I went out in the evening and started to clean some road signs such as in Coventry Road in Warwick by the Saxon Mill, as it appears the council never clean them.

"So I thought, ‘well if the council won’t do anything about it, how about I help myself with my anxiety and at the same time I am also helping out the local community’.

"I posted an update (before and after photos) to show progress to the local Warwick group on Facebook and I had over 1,400 reactions with 99.9 per cent saying thank you and praising me for it.

“If the council won’t do it, who will?”

Cory had cleaned five signs and had plans to do more but was then told to stop by Warwickshire County Council due to safety concerns.

He said: “Warwickshire County Council did not want to support me and have basically asked me to not clean the signs but to report them instead.

“I’ve been reporting dirty and covered signs for over two years and nothing was ever done.”

A spokesperson for Warwickshire County Council said: "We are thankful to Mr Poynton for taking such a keen interest in his local community, which is commendable.

"We have looked at this carefully following contact by Mr Poynton about the work that he is undertaking cleaning signs.

"Unfortunately, the county council cannot support him in an official capacity, as we are worried about him putting himself in danger whilst working close to roads and have informed him of this. For our own teams working on the highway, we have a clear focus on safety to ensure everyone gets home safely at the end of each day.

"The county do however have a more formalised way of helping local communities carry out some highway maintenance tasks through our 'lengthsman scheme'.

"More details can be found here: https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/community/lengthsman-scheme

"Essentially if a local town or parish council wishes to employ someone to carry out some highway maintenance tasks, we are able to offer free training covering how to work safely, and also provide safety equipment."