Mystery surrounds village's Spanish road signs

Nobody has confessed to erecting the signs, which read "trucks do not pass" in Spanish

Why would a quiet village in Lancashire have road signs in Spanish?

Official-looking blue and white signs in Tarleton feature the message "Camiones No Pasar" - Spanish for "trucks do not pass".

Nobody knows for sure why they were erected on Carr Lane, let alone who was responsible, but they have been guiding Spanish-speaking drivers away from the dead end road for a few years.

For locals, that does not matter as they said the warnings were welcome and had done "a good job" at preventing heavy goods vehicles (HGVS) from getting stuck, but Lancashire County Council has decided the "unauthorised" signs are unacceptable and will be removed.

"It's amazing how many HGVs come through this village," Tarleton parish councillor Hayden Latham said.

"To my knowledge, these signs have been up for quite a number of years and they do a very good job at stopping HGVs going down little windy country lanes.

"Quite a few of them have ended up in ditches - and so, as well as saving the lives of villagers, it's also saving the heavy goods vehicles."

He added that a significant number of drivers passing through the village were not from the UK.

Hayden Latham said the Spanish language signs had been effective and had prevented HGVs from crashing into ditches in the narrow lanes

"We don't know where they came from," Margaret Carter, a member at Tarleton Bowling Club, said.

"We get so many HGV drivers who come from Spain because of the vegetable farming here.

"Maybe one of the wagon people thought they didn't want to lose another driver in a ditch, so they organised to put the signs up."

Barbara Wilson, the bowling club's president, said the signs help the local farming industry.

"We think maybe it is to stop wagons getting stranded on narrow roads around the village - but also we have lots of local growers who travel off of the main road to go to the greenhouses."

Margaret Carter (left) and Barbara Wilson are members at the village's bowling club

The 79-year-old has lived in the village for 56 years and said many locals believed the signs were put up by the council.

"Maybe it was one of the local growers," she added.

"We also thought we might have had people in the village who were Spanish."

A spokesperson for Lancashire County Council said it had been "made aware of some unauthorised Spanish road signage stating that there are restrictions on access for HGVs on Carr Lane in Tarleton".

"The signage has not been authorised by us, and is not permitted under UK legislation," they said.

"There are no current restrictions on access for HGVs here.

"As such, our highway maintenance officers will be removing it."