Pelican crossing buttons being stolen to be turned into ‘fancy doorbells’, council official claims
Pedestrian crossing buttons are being stolen and turned into “fancy doorbells”, a council official has claimed.
Thieves have been targeting the pelican crossing signal boxes in Tonbridge, Kent, with the latest box stolen last week.
In total, the thefts have cost Kent County Council (KCC) £32,000 - with each box costing £3,500 to replace.
The controls from one particular crossing in Shipbourne Road have been targeted so many times that it had to temporarily close as the council ran out of replacements.
At a meeting of the Tonbridge Joint Transportation Board, Toby Butler, KCC highways officer, suggested that the signal boxes are “being sold on eBay and being used as fancy doorbells”.
On the site, a user under the name ‘harpur2135’ is selling two push button controls for £22 and £22.50.
They are also selling two stop and go indicators for pedestrians for £30 and £35, and one set of traffic lights for £40.
‘Urgent safety hazard’
Mr Butler said the “vandalism” has been happening for over a year, adding that frequently the live wires are left exposed after the yellow push button box is removed, turning the issue into an “urgent” safety hazard.
Councillor Mark Hood from the Green Party raised the matter at the transportation meeting, saying: “There has been a sustained campaign of vandalism on the crossing close to White Cottage Road with the operating panels repeatedly removed, exposing the live terminals.
“It is inconvenient for the people living nearby, it is extremely dangerous and it is also extremely expensive. It’s cost the county £32,000 so far.”
Mr Butler told the meeting: “This crossing is desperately needed for the school children and others to use. It’s clearly there for a very important reason.
“Tonbridge is the only place in the county where this kind of behaviour is happening.
“We’ve been replacing the push button units each time and the cost for each pair is £3,500.”
The latest theft last week on Shipbourne Road has left the council on the hunt for ways to stop the vandalism from carrying on.
Mr Butler said the police had been involved but had not offered any particular help.
‘Downgrade to just a zebra crossing’
He also said the council wanted to source mobile CCTV cameras to catch the criminals in the act and install trackers in the control boxes, but both ideas were dismissed as impractical.
The council officer said he has now been left “at a bit of a loss” as to how they can tackle the issue.
“We may have to downgrade the crossing to just a zebra crossing without push-button controls. Other than that, I’m at a bit of a loss,” he told the meeting.
Councillor Matt Boughton, the leader of Tonbridge and Malling council, was equally baffled. He said: “Nothing comes to mind that can be done that hasn’t already been investigated.”
The gathered officials were warned that unless the individuals or group of people stealing the boxes were caught, they would all “continue to suffer”.
Councillor Hood appealed to residents to “keep their eyes open” and come forward if they see anything suspicious, adding that he didn’t want the crossing to be downgraded.
He said: “Up until this point, we have been reluctant to expose the matter in a public forum in case it provoked copy-cat activity elsewhere, but now we must.”
