Public warned to leave blowing sign panels
18th January 2007
Bosses at sign installation and maintenance company Xmo Strata are warning members of the public to leave damaged sign panels – some of them airborne in strong winds – well alone.
The company has highly trained emergency crews at petrol stations and retail stores across the country making potentially lethal damaged signs safe. But some crews have – this afternoon - reported members of the public trying to catch flying sign panels, and trying to reach damaged signs on ladders.
“I cannot emphasise enough how dangerous this is,” said Managing Director Steve Martin. “Some of these panels are very heavy and in extreme circumstances could decapitate someone, knock them out, or cause very serious injury. If you see a damaged sign, and it looks possibly dangerous, keep people well away from it, and report it to the building owner, who may call out an expert company such as ours; either that, or tell the emergency services.
“On no account should members of the public attempt to deal with it. Sign panels ripped from their sign may well have protruding nuts and bolts, or other metal parts, and sharp edges, and can travel through the air at pretty much the speed of the wind – possibly, 60-100 miles an hour in a bad storm. Quite apart from anything else, no one should be up a ladder in these winds – particularly to deal with storm damaged signs.”
The company’s hard-pressed emergency crews have battled weeks of high winds across the UK, with crews in different regions being reinforced by colleagues from elsewhere in the country as the need arises.
This afternoon (January 18) petrol stations and stores along the South Coast and the South Downs have reported most damage; by mid afternoon, 20 crews were working on sites in this region.
The control room reported that crews in Scotland, Wales, and other regions of England were also busy – but most of the problems were in the South, and several crews were rushing to reinforce colleagues along the South Coast.
