Belisha Beacons 1967

Belisha Beacons are the amber-coloured globe lamp atop a tall black and white pole, marking pedestrian crossings of roads in the UK. It was named after Leslie Hore-Belisha (1893–1957), the Minister of Transport who in 1934 added beacons to pedestrian crossings, marked by large metal studs in the road surface. These crossings were later painted in black and white stripes, thus are known as zebra crossings.

In early January 1967, motorists destroyed both of the beacons in Glasgow Road, which may have been due to relaxed drink driving laws of the time.

On the first Thursday of that year, the beacon at the junction of Stonefield Road and Glasgow Road was hit and on the Sunday after, the one at Victoria Street Junction with Glasgow Road was completely destroyed. Police were on the lookout for damaged cars but not thought to have caught anybody.

Pictured for illustration only, non Blantyre are Belisha Beacons at the side of a crossing.

From “Blantyre Explained” by Paul Veverka (c) 2017