THOUGHTLESS thieves have stolen almost every road sign between Pickering and Whitby.
North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) Highways department reported the thefts to police.
Police say between 8pm last Friday and 8am last Saturday, a large number of signs were stolen from the A169 road between Pickering and Whitby.
Police estim
ate the signs are worth £10,000 and say the aluminium has probably been weighed in for its scrap value.
The only signs on the Whitby and Pickering road to escape were those outside RAF Fylingdales where there are cameras.
The haul includes chevron signs, direction signs and signs at Goathland junction and those at the Hole of Horcum which read 'please drive carefully'.
It is estimated around 90% of the signs were made of aluminium while the remaining signs were made of plastic.
Les Parker, improvement manager at NYCC Highways, said: "They are all NYCC road signs but cover two areas as the road leads to Pickering in Ryedale.
"It is a very selfish and thoughtless act affecting safety. The signs are there for the benefit and assistance of motorists.
"A theft of this size is unusual in our area.
"Where we have spares in stock we will be able to replace them immediately but specific direction signs have to be ordered and made so they can take up to four weeks."
At the time of going to press, NYCC Highways officers were out carrying out a full assessment and counting the number of stolen signs but Mr Parker estimates the number at between eight and nine.
"Where possible they will now be replaced by plastic signs but we have to take into account the strength of the sign and where a sign may be affected by weather a plastic sign may not be suitable as it may get broken," he added.
Police ask anyone who saw anything suspicious or anyone removing the signs to call them on (0845) 6060247.
