Church threatened with fines over gospel outreach posters

The Rev Thomas Martin of Lisburn Free Presbyterian Church was speaking after he was instructed by a DRD official to remove posters advertising a forthcoming gospel outreach event in the Moira Road area. The posters were put up last Thursday and the Minister says the very next day he was told the church would be fined for each poster if they were not removed immediately.

Rev. Martin explained: “I received a telephone call from a Roads Service official who said we would be fined £50 per poster if they were not removed immediately. I said it would be difficult to get them all removed in time so the deadline was then extended to Tuesday morning as this official was on holiday on Monday.”

The minister said that when removing the posters he noticed a number of others up on lamp posts advertising businesses, radio stations, festivals and concerts.

“There’s a lot of other posters that haven’t been removed and I wonder how quickly the people responsible for them will be contacted? There just seems to be no consistency. We are trying to reach out to people and we aren’t profiting financially and it seems a shame. It goes without saying that when our two week mission finished we would have taken the posters down again” he said.

A DRD spokesperson said: “Roads Service strives to keep footpaths and roads free from obstruction to ensure the safety of pedestrian and road users. To this end Roads Service routinely requests the removal of posters, erected by traders and others, on Roads Service property.

“Roads Service contacted Rev Martin and the church agreed to remove their advertising signs, from Roads Service property, as quickly as possible.

“The Roads (NI) Order 1993 gives the Department powers to remove signs placed within the boundaries of public roads and recover the costs. These powers are used if requests from Roads Service have failed to secure the removal of the obstruction.”