A NEW road safety poster left Bolton's highways chiefs with a prickly poser. It featured two hedgehogs trying to cross the road and their message for children is: "Find a safe place to cross." But council bosses were worried that it would come across to the public as tasteless . . . because hedgehogs are renowned for being squashed as they try to cross the road.

They refused to use it and put in a protest to the Department of Transport.

But after complaints from other councils too, the Government office decided to carry out a survey of children to see what they thought about it.

The result was that they found children reacted to it better than other posters put before them.

Highways sub committee councillors have now given the go ahead for the posters to be put up in Bolton.

Liberal Democrat Cllr Mrs Barbara Ronson said: "Personally, I would not have thought hedgehogs were a good advert for road safety, but if the children like them and identify with them, then that is all that matters."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.