'Daventry Banksie': Homegrown graffiti artist mocks town's 'Grand Canyon' potholes

Mocking placards have appeared across a town, comparing it to the Grand Canyon due to the number of potholes on the roads.

The signs, painted on old doors and pieces of chip board, dub Daventry in Northamptonshire "Pot Hole City" and warn drivers of the "Route 66" type surface.

The hand-painted signs have been claimed by an activist named Daventry Banksie who set up a Facebook page, hiding her identity but sharing the new boards that go up across the town.

She told ITV News that 26 signs had gone up so far and she would not stop "shaming the council into repairing the potholes".

She said: "I'm fed up of Daventry being the underdog. Collectively, as a town, we will shame the council into repairing the roads properly.

"Especially when the council tax went up by the maximum allowance, we just deserve better.

"They keep repairing them shabbily and they have to keep coming back out again. It seems like such a waste of time, a waste of money."

The Daventry Banksie - who spells her name differently from the famous Bristolian street artist - said she was trying to put pressure on West Northamptonshire Council to repair the town's roads properly.

However, unlike her namesake's, Banksie's sassy signs have not yet attracted tourists or light-fingered fans eager to take them home for themselves.

She is the latest in a long line of pothole protesters who have taken action themselves - from the Essex window cleaner who began staging street scenes in potholes using his grandchildren's toys, to music star Rod Stewart, who got out a shovel himself to fix the cavernous craters on his road.

West Northamptonshire Council, the unitary authority responsible for the roads in Daventry, has been approached for comment.

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