As reported by Road.cc, the London Borough of Lambeth commissioned a report which has resulted in a draft cycling strategy that suggests the ban should be enforced more firmly with the use of signs and other measures.

“Opinions volunteered were fairly evenly divided between local residents and their representatives who wish to see cycling on the riverside prohibited and London-wide cyclists who wish to see it permitted,” said the report’s authors. “The River Walk is not a designated cycle route and private landowners in the study area recommended that a ban on cycling in this location be enforced.”

The draft strategy suggests that, if no enforcement support can be agreed with police, landowners should support the council in implementing a signage plan which would encourage cyclists away from the River Walk onto a nearby designated cycle route.

The authors were representing businesses and organisations including the British Film Institute, Guy & St Thomas’ Hospital Foundation Trust, ITV and Shell. It was suggested that these, and other landowners, should “support enforcement of a no cycling rule on the River Walk between Oxo Tower Wharf and London Eye.

“With the Mayor’s cycle hire scheme and cycle superhighways being launched, an increasing drive towards sustainable travel, and rising cycle theft, it should represent part of an ongoing conversation with key stakeholders about how to deliver services to encourage people to take to their bikes,” said councillor Nigel Haselden, Lambeth’s deputy cabinet member for sustainability and transport.

With no less that six panelled signs on the lamp-post, both motorists and parking wardens alike have been left baffled trying to decipher exactly what the sign says.

The signs include a match and event information line and instructions for paying by phone, in addition to no loading and the regular parking restriction signs.

Film director Justin Edgar, spent half an hour explaining to a parking warden that he had legally parked his car outside his home, after receiving a £120 fine.

Although the warden from Islington Council admitted he was wrong, Mr Edgar was still fined, despite having a valid £180 annual permit for residents, displayed in his car. He told the Daily Express that the signage was ‘the most confusing parking sign in Britain’.

Mr Edgar’s road is close to the Emirates stadium of Arsenal football club, which means there are strict parking restrictions in place on match days. It becomes even more confusing as resident parking bays are located next to metered spaces.

A spokesman from Islington Council apologised for the error and told the Daily Mail that they would refund Mr Edgar’s money.

“We’ve cancelled the ticket and apologised for the inconvenience. We have no wish to issue a ticket unfairly. The signage is accurate but having listened to Mr Edgar’s common sense observations we are reviewing what we can do to make it clearer so this doesn’t happen again,”the spokesman said.

The decision was made by Cardiff Council following a meeting with the public protection committee, during which professionals from the private and public hire taxis trade gave their views.

According to the story in The Guardian, the request for the vehicles to be display proper signage came from a public taxi provider. The Hackney Carriage Association told the meeting of a problem in which private hire cars pick up people that haven’t pre booked in Cardiff. However, one representative said that clients did not want signs on their cars, as customers hire them for their discreet service.

Gareth Owens, the director of Dragon Taxis was representing Premier and Tiger taxis. He is cited as having said: “We are equally required to provide a certain standard of service by the council, but we are totally against any signs.

“There’s a proportion of our drivers who have invested in expensive vehicles because they work for a high class customer. When you go to pick up Simon Cowell from Cardiff Airport, he doesn’t want a sign on his door.”

Whilst the committee felt there was not enough evidence to support the claim that private hire taxis were picking up passengers who had not previously booked, they did agree that signage should be displayed on the cars, stating it would be useful for some members of the public.

The exact wording of the signs is yet to be agreed, but it is thought the total cost for producing them will be £4,500.

The signage, which has been put up near Hengrove Park, gives directions to a new minor injuries unit at South Bristol Community Hospital, but the spot is currently a building site, as the hospital is not due to start receiving patients until 2012.

When the hospital extension does open, it will offer those in South Bristol diagnostic tests and give access to therapy services, close to their homes. The centre will also provide urgent care to those with minor illnesses and injuries that need immediate treatment. Some residents will also be able to attend scheduled appointments with consultants and specialists at the centre.

One resident, who did not want to be named, told the Bristol Evening Post of his concern that someone in urgent need of help could drive to the site, only to find that there is no hospital there, wasting time that could have been used driving to Bristol Royal Infirmary.

“I thought it was utter stupidity to have hospital signs for a building site. If someone didn’t know the area or what was going on they could follow the signs and end up at the locked estate. It could be unsafe and is not good all round common sense,” he said.

Bristol City Council have issued an apology for the error and said the signs were meant to be covered up until 2012.  The local NHS said the signs were put up now because a college which is on the site is due to open in September, however the council have arranged for the signs to be covered until the building is officially opened.

James Easey spokesman for Bristol City Council admitted that having the hospital signs visible had been an oversight.

“We apologise for any confusion this has caused over the last few days,” he said.

The billboard signs offered people the chance to win a free holiday to whichever country lifted the World Cup. The ‘Anywhere But England’ campaign was promoted across a shopping centre in Edinburgh with numerous signs plastered in the mall corridors. They’ve since been removed after a Scot said the adverts were racist.

According to The Scotsman, the man who made the complaint said: “I went to do some shopping in Sainsbury’s and was confronted by this banner… It was very in your face. I was quite offended – it’s racist.”

However, a spokesperson for the mall said the ‘Anywhere But England’ slogan referred to holidaymakers’ desire to holiday somewhere exotic. They claim it has nothing to do with the England football team. “We’re sure we speak for the majority of Scots by wishing England all the best in the World Cup,” they added.

This is just one in a number of stories about products displaying the ‘Anywhere But England’ slogan have been removed. Earlier this week HMV stopped promoting the line, but said they would continue to sell the products until stock runs out.

South of the border, England fans have retaliated with their own slogan; SNP – Scotland Not Playing.

A Lothian and Borders Polices spokesman said the force were aware of an incident “regarding an allegation of an offensive slogan used to publicise a competition run by an Edinburgh shopping centre.”

He said it had been recorded as a hate crime incident “as per national guidance on the recording of hate crime. However, no further action will be taken at this stage.”

According to TMZ, the banners were commissioned by a person who is remaining anonymous. They read ‘TIGER: ARE YOU MY DADDY?’ and ‘HAPPY FATHER’S DAY TIGER LOL’. They followed the banners that were flown in April mocking his sex addiction.

According to The Examiner, the stunt immediately followed the filing of a paternity action last week by Devon James, who made a claim that Woods is the father of her nine-year-old son.

The golfer who was awarded PGA Player of the Year ten times took a break from the sport in 2009 after it emerged that he had over a dozen affairs. He took 20 weeks away from golf and returned to compete in the 2010 Masters, where the signs were flown.

The news broke only a couple of months after it was announced that Woods became the richest athlete in history. The fall out resulted in him being dropped from numerous lucrative sponsorship deals. Research by the University of California found that shareholders of Nike, Gatorade and other Tiger Woods sponsors had lost a collective of $5 to $12 billion in the wake of the scandal. They said that before the scandal, Woods was earning about $100 million a year in endorsement income, which is more than any other athlete.

Whiteshill and Ruscombe parish council spent £1,000 producing 15 “20 is Plenty” signs, as a result of road safety fears last year.

Gloucestershire Highways initially allowed the signs to stay up, as part of the villager’s anti-speeding campaign. Yet now residents have been made to take them down after being told that they are not official signs.

The villagers were told that two of their signs could stay up outside the local primary school, to remind drivers about their speed. However, the rest of the signs are now unused and have been left lying on one of the council member’s garage floor.

John Rogers, the chairman of the parish council said to the BBC: “We have the absurdity that we have a village school which people feel they have to drive their children to because they are not happy walking there.”

The village’s official speed limit is 30mph, but the local residents feel this is insufficient to prevent possible accidents.

“We need to look at this seriously. I really feel that no-one is going to do anything unless a child is either injured or killed on this road,” said Angie Mason, chairman of the Friends of Whiteshill Primary School.

“I think we need to go further, not backwards,” she added.

In a statement to the BBC the county council said: “We have agreed to investigate the possibility of introducing a 20mph limit for the whole of the Whiteshill area, subject to the guidelines being approved by our scrutiny committee.

“While we understand people’s concerns, the signs cannot stay up on a permanent basis because they are not legal.”

The episode highlights the importance of official approval when placing signs in a controlled environment, such as in public places like the road.

Marcello Marino could perhaps have considered the potential problems of putting a revealing image of his wife on the side of his business before he sent it for poster printing. Now the hairdresser has had to remove the poster on the side of his salon after Thanet District Council received a complaint and his lack of planning permission was revealed.

BBC news reports that Mr Marino’s salon is located in an area of Ramsgate protected by a conservation order. Whilst the picture is no more explicit than some lingerie adverts, its incongruity with the rest of the area attracted a complaint for showing “so much cleavage”.

Although Marino defends the poster as a “lively and modern” sign and says he cannot see the reason “why not”, local conservation groups have criticised it as distasteful and the local council has noted that permission was needed due to the local regulations.

“For a banner of this size and location, planning permission to display an advert is required,” said a Thanet council spokeswoman. “We have written to the owner explaining this, and also that planning permission for this advert would be unlikely as the property is in a conservation area.”

This minor story offers one lesson for anyone hoping to promote their business through public signage; it is vital to consider public ordinances first.

Owners of Hollands Café were presented with a letter written by Harrods lawyers, accusing them of copyright infringement with regards to their branding. Using the same font as the iconic store, the café’s owners were told that their gold exterior sign was too similar to the Knightsbridge retailers logo.

Nigel Holland, co-owner of the roadside café in Rivenhall, Essex, commented to The Sun that changing the establishments branding would force them out of business, saying: ”We would have to change our logo, the menus, the signs and the website – it would total up to £14,000 and would put this small new business, out of business.”

Likening the battle to that of ”David and Goliath,” Mr Holland said that the case was ”absolute rubbish, bizarre and causing [us] a lot of problems and worry.”

Hollands Café opened in January, with its signage style attributed to the way Mrs Hollands writes her name, according to her husband. Speaking to The Telegraph, the husband and wife team said: ”At the end of the day we are a roadside restaurant – how we are associated with a Knightsbridge store is beyond us.”

Nevertheless, the pair have been ordered to change their branding by the end of this month or face hefty legal action. In response to the letter, Harrods Corporate Affairs Manager, Hannah Hodges, commented: ”Examination of the Hollands Café Lounge sign will reveal the script is extremely similar to our copyrighted Harrods logo and could, therefore, wrongly suggest some association between our organisations.”

”Whilst we recognise that Hollands Café Lounge is a very different organisation to Harrods, we feel and appropriate that they should take some simple steps to remedy the copyright infringement.”

Perhaps the biggest issue has been the rising price of paper. Print Week reported earlier this month that several of the UK’s biggest paper merchants have announced price rises of 15% from the first of June.

However, although this has been an unwelcome development for many printers, it appears to be an unavoidable change. Giles Lock, managing director at Top Print, told Print Week that though the price increases were “making life very difficult indeed” he acknowledged that the basic price of paper has been largely unchanged over the past 10 years.

“Set against the retail prices index over the past 15 years, paper is around 30% adrift in real terms and the mills have started to realise it,” he said.

Almost every type of printing material will rise in cost between 8% and 15% after the first of June, with speciality grades seeing the highest rise. Merchants say that the Chilean earthquake in March has disrupted their traditional supply chain, sending the cost of raw materials soaring; in conjunction with the recent economic fluctuations, costs have risen for many printers and subsequently so has the price to the consumer.

However, the sector may return to greater stability in the near future as the weak pound helps to revitalise the country’s export trade.

Investment Week reports that the 25% drop of the pound against a trade weighted basket of currencies since the start of 2007 has boosted competitiveness for export products. 12 of the 13 manufacturing categories listed by the paper have increased, led by paper, printing and publishing.