THE fiasco of Clitheroe town centre being gridlocked because of new bollards -- which highways officials plonked on a busy street's pavement without consultation -- will remind those with long memories that such 'jobsworths' were employed to keep the town's footpaths clear of obstruction.

The bollards, which prevent delivery trucks half-parking on the footpath, are now congesting traffic.

Remember the farce some five years ago when some fanatic at County Hall unleashed a reign of terror on Lancashire shopkeepers who dared to clutter pavements with 'A-boards'? It was conducted with such gusto in Clitheroe that the town hall stormtroopers even set about confiscating the signs. Is it not remarkable, then, that a local authority with such concern for the free movement of pedestrians can pepper the sidewalks in busy Wellgate with so many new bollards?

Certainly, delivery drivers now forced to park in the road instead, stopping other vehicles for up to half an hour and bringing town centre traffic to a standstill, must be happy that they are no longer guilty of causing an obstruction.

But it's the law. At such times, the mulishness of the law and those who police it could drive you up the wall -- and, in Clitheroe, to a complete, but needless halt.