Humour is reason cone mad

Glasgow city council planned to raise the Duke of Wellington statue in a bid to end the habitual ritual of inebriated Glaswegians placing a traffic cone on his head.

Thousands of people signed an online petition that says the cone on the monument has become part of Glasgow’s landscape.

The council wanted to deter people from tampering with the statue outside the Gallery of Modern Art 
by spending £65,000 on raising the plinth on which it stands to 1.8m, to “deter all but the most determined of vandals”.

The petition, organised by Donna Yates and Gavin Doig, attracted more than 10,000 signatures, and a Facebook page set up to save the cone has had 45,000 likes.

In the petition, the cone was described as “an iconic part of Glasgow’s heritage (which) means far more to the people of Glasgow and to visitors than Wellington himself ever has”.

A council spokesman commented: “The wording of the report was appalling, and GCC leader Gordon Matheson has instructed officers to withdraw the planning application.”

The council claim the cost of removing the cone from the statue which was erected in 1844 is £100 each time.

Reader Elizabeth Jeffrey posted on The Extra’s Facebook page: “Embarrassingly this is the same ‘quirky humour’ that the council sell to tourists through their gift shops and arms length quango literature.

“As for them wasting £10k a year removing traffic cones from it — appalling. Another instance of GCC wasting public money.”

Annemarie McGregor added: “What’s depressing is the fact GCC wants to spend money to tackle this when so many other areas affecting day to day living need more funding and fixing.”