Shotgun-toting vandals a sign of trouble (From The Oxford Times)

Shotgun-toting vandals a sign of trouble

7:10pm Monday 6th February 2012 in Witney

A FORMER Royal Marine has expressed his fears about vandals shooting road signs for fun, after a university study found the craze has caught on in Oxfordshire.

Matt Seiber, author of the book, Gunfired Graffiti, insists the practice of gun-toting motorists peppering signs with bullet holes is an ignored crime.

The writer, a keen sports shooter, said: “I’m drawing attention to something that nobody has paid attention to before.

“I’m a legal shooting sportsman, and I feel it’s wrong that people like me have to fulfil quite reasonable criteria that these vandals ignore. This is a type of gun crime that is completely overlooked.”

His book includes pictures of signs across the county, which have been damaged or wrecked by owners of firearms such as shotguns, which can be owned legally with a licence.

The trend in Oxfordshire has also been studied by academics at the Department of Engineering and Applied Science at Cranford University in Swindon.

Supervisor Dr Derek Allsop oversaw a masters project by student Danae Marina Prokopiou which focused on a 150 square mile area of west Oxfordshire in which 25 signs were found damaged by gunfire.

The study examined an area bordered by the A40, the A361, the B4000 and the A338, including Carterton and Faringdon, and focused on 16 examples. Ballistics tests were carried out to establish when the signs were shot and what weapons were involved.

Dr Allsop explained: “The most recent example we found was three weeks old and the oldest was about five years old.

“I think there is a concern about these sort of weapons being discharged on a public highway.

“It seemed to be the case that these were being fired from cars – we can work this out based on the direction and height of the shot.

“If you are going to shoot from the driver’s side you’ve got to fire across the carriageway, which causes an extra degree of danger.”

But the police downplayed the dangers posed by the vandals.

Det Ch Insp Ray Howard said: “We are not receiving calls from the public about this issue so it is very difficult to estimate how much of a problem it is, particularly as there is no way of telling whether any of the damage to road signs is recent.

“I would welcome any information from the public about damage to road signs, particularly if the damage is being caused by a firearm. If you have information for police, please call us via the 24-hour Enquiry Centre on 101.”