Has your local council recently replaced a height/width restriction and not bothered putting up a metric equivalent? Perhaps there was one and it has been removed? Perhaps you're fed up of the "narrow lanes" signs in one of the many motorway roadworks we have to put up with that show > 6' - 6" <?

The number of metric-educated drivers on our roads has surely now grown to the point that not at the very least showing width and height restrictions in metres is irresponsible and potentially dangerous. All children have been educated in metric in the UK since 1974; add to this migration from other countries (both the recent influx from Eastern Europe as well as migration from comonwealth countries such as Australia), the number of foriegn drivers here on holiday or business and the fact that even the Irish Republic is now fully metric. Many new-car handbooks now only show vehicle dimensions only in metric. All new vehicles, bridges and roads are built to metric specifications.

Who takes responsibility if you can't easilly or properly convert an imperial sign to metric or convert the metric measurements of your car into imperial and as a concequence your car and/or a bridge or wall are damaged? Local authorities are required to pay for damage in those cases so it is you, the tax payer, who pays.

Ideally we should have only metric sizes on road signs, but for the moment we should at the very least have both and it should be mandatory. If you agree with this sign the petition at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/sizeroadsign .

Ok, so where else in the world...

...can you only buy petrol, diesel and oil for you car in metric units (litres) but can only measure the lenght of your journey in imperial (miles)?

...is it illegal to sell beer in pubs in metric and then illegal to sell in pints in the supermarket?

...is it mandatory to label milk in supermarkets in metric but illegal to sell on the doorstep in anything other than pints?

...is it illegal to show distances on road signs in metric but common to see weight and height limits in metres and always see weights in tonnes?

...can you buy a new car which shows height and width in metric but it is not mandatory to show height and weight limits on the roads in anything other than feet and inches?

...is all road engineering done in metric but converted to imperial for road signs?

...is all building work done in metric but property sales often handled exclusively in imperial measures?

...can you try to compare electrical goods (such as fridges and freezers) in 2 shops to find one gives measurements in cubic metres and the other in cubic feet?

 ...do medical professionals use metric but risk confusion having to convert to imperial when speaking to patients?

...do people still get food poisoning because cooking instructions often contain a confusing mix of imperial and metric units? 

...are your children forced to learn one system of measurement and be expected to cope when it's not used in the real world?

...are we forced to put up with this mess because of excuses such as "national pride", "ignorance" and "because Europe are making us" have stopped sucessive governments from finishing what was started over 30 years ago!