West Witton bollards mowed down twice: Grass cutter 2, Bollards 0
In West Witton, Wensleydale, the council's grass-cutting contractor flattened a set of roadside bollards. A new set went up by mistake a week later. You can probably guess what the mower did next.
Some rivalries define an era: Ali v Frazier, Oasis v Blur. And now, on the eastern approach to West Witton in Wensleydale, a grass cutter v a set of bollards. So far, it has not been close.
The original bollards had stood by the road for years – decades, the village believes – until North Yorkshire Council’s grass-cutting contractor came through and flattened them. The parish council reported it, highways officers came out to have a look, and they decided the bollards weren’t actually needed for road safety. So they would be taken away, not replaced. Case closed.
AI illustration – an artist’s impression of the efficiency involved. Not the actual contractor.
Except, barely a week later, a shiny new set of bollards popped up in exactly the same spot. And within days, the grass cutter was back – and mowed those down too.
West Witton Parish Council has written the saga up as a tongue-in-cheek “four-act drama”, opening with life’s great mysteries: “Who built Stonehenge? Is there life on Mars? And why does North Yorkshire Council keep planting bollards on the eastern approach to West Witton, only for someone to mow them down?” Its verdict: “The score now stands at: Grass cutter 2 – Bollards 0. Council taxpayers: Please don’t ask.”
The parish council even floated a sign reading “West Witton Bollard Nature Reserve – Please Do Not Feed The Mower”, before admitting it would probably get flattened too.
AI illustration – conservation efforts, Wensleydale-style. (Spot Gaz, our gorilla, hiding somewhere in this picture.)
Barrie Mason, the council’s assistant director of highways and transport, explained that after the first incident the bollards were judged unnecessary, but “because of a misunderstanding, a new set of bollards was installed in error” – some of which were then damaged in another round of grass cutting. The survivors will now be removed and “re-used elsewhere in North Yorkshire”, and the council is talking to the contractor and “will be looking to recover costs where appropriate”. How much the whole thing cost hasn’t been disclosed.
Final score, then: Grass cutter 2, Bollards 0. Somewhere else in North Yorkshire, a few lucky bollards are about to get a fresh start – well away from the verges.
The saga was reported on 9 November 2026 by Joe Willis, Local Democracy Reporter, in Richmondshire Today, with further coverage in The Northern Echo.
Images: main photo – “West Witton” by Malcolm Neal, October 2018, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph and Wikimedia Commons (representative; not the bollards in question). Illustrations: Gorilla Gazette / AI-generated.
