A sign of bad spelling: Drivers baffled by bridge warning

Bungling workers have been slammed after they erected a sign for a historic Welsh bridge - but misspelt it "Whelsh".

Sign-makers were left red faced after wrongly spelling the basic word on the road sign in Shrewsbury, Shropshire.

A yellow sign was put by the roadside to advise drivers that the town's Grade II listed Welsh Bridge was closed on Sunday for roadworks.

But baffled drivers could be seen double-taking after spotting the sign - which instead read 'Whelsh Bridge Closed'.

Bill Ball, from the Queen's English Society, criticised the glaring blunder by National Grid workmen, branding it a "sad reflection of modern standards in education." 

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He said: "It's unbelievable they could make such a fundamental error.

"This is a serious and simple misspelling and is a sad reflection of the standards in our education system today.

"People rely on machines and phones to auto-correct spellings. Sometimes these are American spellings anyway.

"Gone are the days of dictionaries in the classroom and exams are getting easier.

"Everybody has words they can't spell, that is understandable - but this is a basic error.

"Spelling countries in the United Kingdom correctly is something you should be able to do in primary school.

"They should be ashamed of themselves."

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The mistake also sparked amused response among motorists and a flurry of comments on social media websites.

Commuter Claire Howell, 31, from Telford, Shropshire., said: "I found it hilarious. You've got to be pretty dopey to make that sort of error.

"Somebody needs to go back to school and take their GCSE English again. It's unbelievable."

Holly Rebecca Steed tweeted: "Welsh Bridge is closed, except they've spelt it 'Whelsh'."

A spokesperson for National Grid said: "The typo was noticed by our workers upon arrival at the bridge on Sunday.

"However, we thought it would be better to put it up than not -  so we could at least advise road users what was going on.

"As it was a temporary measure and we were off site by 3pm we took the decision to leave it up for the duration of the work. 

"We have been in contact with the traffic management company who we obtain the signs off about their error." 

The bridge, which crosses the River Severn and connects the Frankwell area of Shrewsbury with the town centre, was closed between 6am and 6pm on Sunday for general repairs to the carriageway.