The Woolly Speed Gun
Fillongley knitters put a woollen RAF man with a speed gun beside a dangerous junction. He was stolen between 07:10 and 08:05. The traffic lights are still not built.
Heather Badham looked for the RAF man and he was gone. He had been standing beside the road in Fillongley in a knitted high-vis vest, holding a knitted speed gun. She says he was taken between 07:10 and 08:05.
The BBC, on 15 October 2026, reported that the Fillongley Knit and Natter group has been putting knitted figures around the Warwickshire village to make drivers slow down. Knitted children carry road safety messages. Knitted zebras sit above the crossing signs. The RAF character was made in honour of the father of one of the knitters, who served in the Second World War. Badham, the parish clerk and a member of the group, called it a piece of village heritage. She said she was gutted for the women who knitted it.
Warwickshire County Council has recorded 11 collisions at the junction in the past four years. The council approved traffic lights earlier this year. Some residents want average-speed cameras instead. The authority told the BBC it is still drawing up the options, and that it is waiting on HS2 to confirm funding for an alternative scheme. A BBC report on 20 July 2026 put a related HS2 sum at about £2.65 million, to be used before April next year, and recorded local opposition to the lights. That July figure is not restated in the October piece.
Badham does not claim the wool replaces the lights. She told the BBC that people chuckle, and that she can see brake lights come on as drivers approach the RAF man, because they think the speed gun is real. That is an observation from the roadside. It is not a speed survey. Birmingham Live, on 18 October, said the figures went out on 13 October after four months of planning, and that one of them was taken two days later. Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Seccombe told the BBC that Fillongley remains one of the county's collision hotspots.
Key Facts
- Fillongley Knit and Natter put knitted children, zebras and an RAF man with a speed gun around the village.
- Heather Badham says the RAF man was stolen between 07:10 and 08:05. It honoured a knitter's father who served in the Second World War.
- Warwickshire County Council has recorded 11 collisions at the junction in four years. Traffic lights were approved earlier in 2026. Funding for an alternative is still unconfirmed.
- No measured speed drop has been published. Brake lights are what one clerk saw.
Why This Matters
A village that is tired of waiting will build the thing it can finish. Wool is that thing. The council's thing is still a drawing and a funding letter. The theft is what keeps the item from being a joke: a family memorial, gone before breakfast, and a junction that has hurt people.
What We Don't Know Yet
Whether the RAF man comes back. Any before-and-after speed. Which HS2 scheme, if any, will actually be funded. How many of the other figures are still in place.