Hull pensioner stages sit-in protest to block 'ugly' broadband project in Hull
Police were called after a pensioner staged a sit-in protest to prevent a communications company installing a 30ft pole outside her home.
Grandmother Dot Bolton took matters into her own hands after broadband provider Connexin announced plans to erect a number of posts to carry overhead lines on her street in Hull.
When contractors arrived on Wednesday, 10 August, the 75-year-old sat down on a deckchair over a spot marked out for one of the poles outside her property in Ramsgate Close and put up an umbrella to protect herself from the sun.
According to the Hull Live website, she refused to budge even when police arrived, telling them: "I am not moving, so you may as well arrest me."
She said: "I've lived here for 20 years now and like my house the way it is, without these poles.
"I am willing to be arrested, I feel that strongly about it. I have never been in trouble in my life but having the police called won't scare me from standing up for myself."
Connexin previously said it had been following the "correct process" before embarking on its roll-out programme. In a statement, it added that the technology would bring "huge benefits to local families and businesses, while also creating a fairer and more competitive marketplace in the city".
But residents of the street, including Dot and her husband Brian, complained about the project, saying the new infrastructure was "ugly" and would block the view from their homes.
The stalemate apparently ended when contractors suggested moving the pole away from Dot's home onto a grass verge.
She said she accepted a police caution for obstructing a public highway.
In a statement, Humberside Police told Hull Live: "Officers were called to attend Ramsgate Close, Hull, at 11am today following reports of an incident. One woman has been reported for a public order offence."
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