The Yellow Pimpernel

A council has condemned the actions of a spray-painting preacher who used yellow paint to mark potholes on a road in his West Yorkshire home town. Brian Hollingworth, 69, who calls himself "The Yellow Pimpernel", highlighted crumbling road surfaces in Birkby Hall Road, Huddersfield.

Workmen fixed the road but Kirklees Council said repairs were already underway in the street. It said roadworks were not influenced by "guerrilla actions".

Mr Hollingworth said he decided to take direct action to highlight the dangerous road surface as it was causing problems for his Rover Metro.

He used four cans of paint and spent three nights marking the trouble spots on the half-mile stretch of road. Mr Hollingworth, a preacher at Rishworth Congregational Church in Calderdale, said: "I was driving my beloved Metro backwards and forwards and I felt the bumps more and more.

"I thought to myself 'someone ought to do something about these holes in the road' but that someone never turns up. So I thought 'that someone has got to be me'. Bystanders were talking to me and asking what my name was so I just looked at the paint canister and 'The Yellow Pimpernel' came out."

But Martin Bolt, cabinet member responsible for highways at Kirklees Council, said Mr Hollingworth's actions had not influenced the authority.

"It's more coincidence than coercion," he said. "The council has a long standing programme of works. These are not influenced by guerrilla actions."

He said a £4m road repair programme was already under way and another £10m investment over five years had just been announced. Mr Bolt said as far as he was aware, Mr Hollingworth had not made a report about Birkby Hall Road. He added: "Effectively he is doing graffiti. I condemn the action. Anybody stepping into the road spraying is putting themselves and others at risk. There is no reason for people in Kirklees to take such drastic action."