Motorist causes damage in Preston city centre

A pair of lamp-posts at the opposite end of the city centre were damaged last week, burdening county hall with the cost of replacing them.

The latest incident, adding to a growing list of collisions in recent years, has prompted council bosses to call for help from the public.

Martin Dunwell, community services manager at Lancashire County Council, said: “This type of incident costs the county council money to fix the damage.

“We’ll see if we can find out what has happened, and whether we can claim from the driver responsible or their insurance company.”

The multi-million pound shared space scheme was extended from Fishergate to Church Street last year.

Designed to create a more pedestrian-friendly and attractive city centre, it has not received universal approval with drivers complaining it had contributed to congestion problems.

However, the £3.4m project won a national award last year for getting rid of unsightly street signs.

And it has made the Fishergate bollard - situated at the junction with Corporation Street - somewhat of a social media celebrity with 2,145 followers on Twitter reading about its various altercations with dozy drivers.

Council bosses said the lamp-posts, on Church Street, have now been removed.

Mr Dunwell added: “If anyone sees an incident taking place, please contact us so that we can try to track down the vehicle responsible.”