An 88-year-old man who has ‘seen it all’ outside his home took direct action against the town hall and is ‘prepared to be arrested’

An elderly pensioner says he is prepared to be arrested over his battle with the council after stopping workers from installing national speed limit signs near his home. Terrence Cook insists he has been concerned about the “dangerous” country road for years.

So when highway workers arrived to install new signs informing drivers they could travel 60 mph, the 88-year-old took direct action. Terrence ran from his cottage in south Wales and reversed his car to stop the worker from entering the lane with the sign last week.

He is now in dispute with his council, Wales Online reports. Terrence fears the signs will encourage speeding drivers to test the limits of their driving skills along Horeb Lane in Trinant, Caerphilly district.

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It is a typical country road, wide enough for a car with sharp curves where visibility is poor. Terrence explained that it would be very easy for two vehicles to collide, or for a vehicle to collide with a person if a motorist is driving too fast.

A Caerphilly council spokesman said Horeb Lane has always been a national speed limit route despite signs indicating it was 20mph. It has been discovered that someone has twisted the 20 mph signs on Horeb Lane to make it look like the speed limit in the rural lane was 20 mph when those signs are actually for the road going in the opposite direction.

A city worker has since been on site to reposition the signs. Terrence says he didn’t bend the signs and doesn’t know who did, but it shows that others are concerned about motorists driving too fast in the country lane.

He maintains that there have been multiple accidents in the lane that he claims have been caused by motorists traveling over 20 mph. “It is a difficult lane to drive, a typical rural road, and under no circumstances should you travel at high speed on the road,” he said.

“I have to back my car on a corner of the road. I had to put up a traffic cone because of how fast the cars come here and go down so fast that before they have even seen the cone, it’s already under of your car. I am very concerned that the national speed limit sign encourages motorists to drive quickly.

“I have tried to challenge this on my own and feel I have gotten nowhere so I need to make what is happening here public knowledge. “It is strange to me that a council would want to fund the installation of a national sign speed limit on a road where it is clearly dangerous.

“I’ve lived here for 42 years and I’ve seen it all. Dogs run over, a little girl hit by a horse and fell.”

So worried about motorists driving too fast in front of his house, Terrence has made his own “Go Slow” sign. He added: “I think it generally works, although sometimes people tell me to go to hell.

“Most people are respectful, but it only takes one to have a serious accident. There is no way people can drive at 110 km/h. This horrifies me.”

“There are stables on the right hand side and people come and go here all the time, people use it as a walking route. It’s incredibly dangerous.”

A council spokesperson said: “Sections of the road within the town of Trinant have been reduced to 20mph, but this lane has always been subject to the national speed limit. As part of the associated signage work for the new speed limits speed of 20mph, we identified that the national speed limit signs were missing at the junction with this lane and need to be provided. “We have spoken to Mr Cook and advised him of the position and it will be necessary to install the national speed limit sign at this location.”