A DRIVER who knocked down a West Somerset village centre fingerpost on Christmas Eve has escaped prosecution because not enough evidence could be provided to the police.

Nether Stowey Parish Council said despite its best efforts it had not been able to ‘find sufficient evidence for police to charge the driver responsible’.

The council said Somerset Council, which owned the fingerpost, had not been interested in its reinstatement.

Now, however, it has been replaced with the help of enthusiasts from the Somerset Fingerpost Group and repairs and refurbishment carried out by Somerset Forge, in Wells.

The main post was returned at the beginning of the month and has now been reassembled after a short wait for the concrete to set.

The work was overseen by parish councillors, who thanked the Quantock Landscape Partnership Scheme for sharing the £1,800 cost, Somerset Forge for a ‘fabulous job’, and Minehead contractors CJ Lynch for removing the damaged post and then resetting it more securely.

The damage was suspected to have been caused by a delivery van, with the unknown driver leaving the fingerpost leaning at a precariously unsafe angle on Christmas Eve shortly before the village’s annual Carols on the Cross service.

Parish councillors arranged for it to be speedily removed and then discovered responsibility for the finger post rested with them despite it being owned by Somerset Council.

The then-county council gave up maintaining Somerset’s 2,200 fingerposts about 60 years ago but allowed parishes to keep them.

It said it recognised the value of fingerposts as part of Somerset’s heritage and appreciated communities had shown a strong desire to preserve them for future generations.

Somerset and Exmoor National Park, and neighbouring Devon county, are among only a few areas of the country which still retain and maintain their fingerposts.