HIGHWAYS bosses have been forced to hold a traffic cone ‘amnesty’ after a quarter of the hundreds placed around Sidmouth during FolkWeek vanished.

Around 180 heavy duty, yellow ‘no waiting’ cones went missing during the seven days of festivities at the beginning of the month, leaving Devon County Council baffled.

The total is around 25 per cent of all of the cones used by the authority during the festival to prevent irresponsible parking.

Now the council is appealing for their ‘safe return’.

Councillor Stuart Hughes, Sidmouth representative and county cabinet member for highway management, said: “We would usually expect a handful of cones to go missing during a big event like FolkWeek - but this is much more than usual.

“These cones ensure that traffic management is safeguarded during events and the crews who are authorised to use them know exactly how many are issued and collected.

“It’s a mystery - they can’t be used on the highway by members of the public so there would seem to be little point in taking them.

“We would urge people who may have some or comes across them to hand them in as soon as possible, no questions asked.”

Anyone who finds or has a traffic cone should return it to Sidmouth Town Council’s offices in Woolcombe Lane.