Inkorrect keep clear markings are ‘kleared’ away...

The mis-spelt “Keep Klear” sign, which should have read “Keep Clear”, appeared outside East Preston fire station, in North Lane, on Friday. It was painted on the pavement following a spate of gas works there, which had involved digging where the old markings were.

The faux pas attracted a lot of attention from amused residents, some of whom took photos and up-loaded them to social networking site Facebook.

Bemused mother Carol Brown, of Eastern Close, was out walking with her daughter on Friday when she saw the sign. She said: “I had to try to explain to my daughter that it wasn’t the correct spelling of the word clear and then came the 101 questions as to why it had been spelt that way.”

Firefighters, too, were left puzzled, after noticing a number of people taking photos of the road marking on Monday morning.

Station commander Jon Mays said: “Obviously, we were a little surprised initially. The East Preston area had some new gas mains put in which ran across the entrance to the fire station. As a result of the work, the original warning sign needed to be repainted.

“These things happen, you don’t have spell check when you’re painting on the road like you do with your computer. However, it was nothing to do with the fire and rescue service. It was an outside organisation that had arranged for this work.”

The gas work was carried out by Southern Gas Networks. A spokeswoman for the company said: “The work was carried out by one of our contractors as part of our reinstatement work.

“They were made aware of the error and have since corrected it. This serves as a reminder for all our staff to double-check their work.”

The sign was corrected on Tuesday (November 1) afternoon.