A weekend craft fair in a quiet Angus village was rocked by claims of “sabotage”.
The Letham Spring Craft Fair was overshadowed by the ”deliberate” theft of signposts publicising the event which were put up across the county.
Eight of the 10 signs which had been put at the side of the road on approaches from Arbroath, Brechin, Carnoustie, Forfar and Friockheim were stolen.
The signs publicising the fair were on wooden stakes and were pulled out of the ground in the run-up to the event.
Geoff Riley, chairman of Angus Crafts Association, said organisers were baffled as to who would go to such lengths to disrupt proceedings. He said it was deeply disappointing that someone appears to have gone round the county pulling up the wooden laminated signs.
Mr Riley said: ”We have a member whose job it is to put signs up usually within a 10-mile radius of the village hall on the approach roads.
”I got a phone call from the guy who puts them out who had a drive round and found that eight sets had completely vanished.
”They have not just been pulled up and thrown into the ditch or over hedges they have just been taken away.
”We put them up every year and it’s highly unlikely it would have been the council because they would have approached us if there had been a problem.
”It appears to have been targeted but we’re left scratching our heads because we don’t know of anyone who might have a grudge against us.
”It is an annual event and this is the first time we have had any problems but it appears to be sabotage of some kind.
”It’s a mystery as to why someone might have a down on the Angus Crafts Association and we’re very surprised that someone would go to such lengths.”
The spring craft fair has been running for 19 years and features a diverse range of quality handcrafted goods.
Mr Riley said organisers would not know the effect of the missing signs until the attendance figure are tallied up.
He said: ”I imagine it will make an impact on it because a lot of people read these when they go past and our market research has shown they are very effective.”
Four years ago the county suffered a spate of road sign thefts which cost the council thousands to replace them.
Around 60 road signs were stolen from around the Tealing, Auchterhouse, Craichie, Wellbank and Draffin areas. It is thought the signs were stolen for scrap value which would have been minimal.
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