Select a region
Spelling mistakes and inconsistencies on traffic signs related to major roadworks this week have led to the creation of a Facebook group dedicated to documenting local signage errors.
The issue came to light when islander Phil Taylor took to social media to criticise the spelling errors on a Gloucester Street sign highlighting the road closures and diversions due to resurfacing work on the Esplanade.
The sign originally featured two spelling mistakes, displaying the message: "No access to Kesington Pl & Partiotic St from Esplanade" – with the words 'Kensington' and 'Patriotic' both written incorrectly.
The following day, the Patriotic misspelling was corrected, but the second mistake remained.
Absolutely pathetic - they fixed ONE spelling mistake and IGNORED the other one!!! pic.twitter.com/CzEXyuifu9
— myPhilTaylor (@myPhilTaylor) October 24, 2023
“It is comedy – they go back and make a change like yesterday, and do not resolve the whole problem,” joked Phil.
He explained: “I can totally understand if it is a minimum wage, English as a second language worker that creates signs for the Government – however, this is not a one-man job and a second pair of eyes would have saved the day each time."
Express asked the Government to confirm who is responsible for signage, and what checks or quality control measures are undertaken before printing.
Principal Engineer, Rob Cabot responded: “Setting out these kinds of diversions requires a great deal of effort and while there are manual quality control checks, in this instance, spelling errors have occurred.
“We are amending the signage as required and apologise for any misunderstanding it may have caused.
“I’d like to thank all the teams working hard to complete the works safely and to programme. Weather permitting, we’re on course to be finished by the weekend.”
As well as the Gloucester Street sign errors, Phil has pointed out other local signage blunders in his Facebook group ‘Jersey Signs’ – including inconsistencies in the use of uppercase and lowercase letters on signs, instances where text was printed upside down, and further misspelled words like "vehicies", "remaing", "Febuary", "Divertion" and "Esplande".
He also mentioned how a recent Ports of Jersey sign promised access to a local pier, pending 'Thurver' notice.
It's not the first time road markings have caught the attention of islanders for all the wrong reasons.
In 2021, a road marking error near Waitrose in St Brelade infamously featured an arrow next to the 'Look Left' sign incorrectly directing pedestrians to look in the opposite direction.
This from our “you had one job’ correspondent...
— Gary Burgess (@GaryBurgessCI) March 18, 2021
Outside Waitrose at Red Houses. ???? pic.twitter.com/R2V5S1yYSO
You can keep up to date with similar peculiar local signs on the new Facebook group, Jersey Signs.
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.