Signs Of The Times... 'Outrage' In Bradford As Far Right Groups Vandalise Urdu Road Signs

Outrage in Bradford as far right groups vandalise Urdu road signs in Meaningham area of Bradford, historically a no-go zone for non-Muslims.

The council installed more than £100,000 worth of Urdu road signage along Oak Lane following a spate of incidents involving drivers who speak no English. Demands were made of the council by local mosque elders and Bradford's Grand Mufti, Mohammed Amin al Husseini, as they felt English only road signs were putting Urdu speakers at unnecessary risk.

"It was felt that it was the right time to address pedestrian safety and make sure that our health and safety provisions were fully compliant with EU legislation" said Graeme Pardy, Bradford council's Head of Planning and Highways Safety following the decision to install the signs.

The pilot run of bi-lingual road signs has proven successful and a larger roll-out of signage across multi-cultural cities and towns across West Yorkshire and the North West has been approved and is expected to be implemented in early 2017 with Dewsbury and Bradford set to receive the majority of the £8 million pound EU grant funding. The Highways Agency is known to be in the planning phase of a national roll out of multi-lingual signage with the first signs expected on the motorway network by 2020.

"Wales has had bi-lingual road signs for decades" said Inspector Keith Boots in a recent interview with the Bradford Herald, "given the amount of money we were spending on translation services following minor traffic incidents it made fiscal sense to translate the signs and avoid the accidents in the first place. Fortunately there are large EU grants available for schemes such as this one. Our first duty is to the safety of the public."

Several signs in the Ecckleshill area were defaced with graffiti on Thursday night in what is being treated by as a hate crime by Bradford police. "We take incidents of racism very seriously, we will be investigating this fully and will prosecute those responsible to the full extent of the law."

A campaign objecting to the scheme has been established with a number of online petitions gathering pace.

The Grand Mufti was unavailable for comment.

You can sign the petition here.