Bird box Bill puts brakes on boy racers
Naughty but novel. The story of Bill Angus and his speed camera bird box tickled my fancy. I'm still tittering.
Nice one Bill.
Naturally he is overwhelmed at the reaction since our front page story of him and his ingenious contraption which made the nationals – and got a mention on Chris Evans's Radio 2 breakfast show.
"I can't believe it. I went to the Rugby club on Saturday night and I felt like a celebrity," said Bill, whose cheeky device has put the brakes on speeding motorists.
Well, it had... until some moron damaged it in the wee small hours.
But you can't keep a good man down – or a bird box like this – because today it's back where it belongs after external repairs, interior decoration and an appealing sign knocked up for all to see: "Please do not damage our home, Mr and Mrs Blue Tit."
I sincerely hope not because this is a cracking idea of the retired police detective inspector.
Siting his deliberately-styled speed camera bird box in his garden in Sunderland Road, Newbottle, has had maximum effect in getting his message across while putting a smile on our faces and tackling a very serious issue.
And that was all Bill ever intended. As he told me: "I have been campaigning for some time for some kind of speed deterrent here.
"We have a lot of old people and children and the speeding is horrendous. I am just concerned and if I can draw attention by making something light-hearted to get the message across that's as important as shouting it from the rafters."
Hear, hear. Mission accomplished Bill.
What has totally taken him by surprise was the support he's received in telephone calls and conversations with his neighbours.
It's made him something of a celebrity in the village and goes to show how a dummy speed camera in the garden is a good thing, curbing drivers doing 80 or 90mph to slam on the brakes in this 30mph zone.
Speed cameras work and I wonder if Bill will now be putting his prototype into production. What a nice little earner. He quipped: "I could do it cheap and lease it out to people."
It's been hailed by the Northumbria Safer Road Initiative as "an impressive and noble act".
And it just goes to show it pays to go about things in the right way. Bill got the OK from the police after two officers visited him, took a look at his bird box and told him: "There shouldn't be a problem. Make sure you put "Bird Box" on the side."
"They didn't say what language it had to be in so I thought I'll put it in Turkish – 'KUS KATU'."
What fired Bill, 64, was the urgency with the A19 slip road at Doxford Park turn off closed for 16 weeks and more traffic coming along Sunderland Road from Shiney Row and Newbottle.
It is indeed a nonsense that there is no speed camera on this stretch of road where drivers can – and do – go flat out before hitting the A690.
Apparently a man down south makes dummy speed cameras at 650 a shot. I far prefer Bill's flight of fancy, which is a soaring success.
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Friday 10 February 2012
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