Prank signs were put up in the Strand Gardens over the weekend stating ‘this is a skate park.’

The three signs, each bearing a fake county council logo, were posted above head height on three lampposts encircling the war memorial.

Strand traders and residents have complained that since the reopening of the Strand earlier this year that skate boarders had been using the war memorial and the new street furniture for skateboard ‘tricks’.

Jacqui Heywood of Franklins said: “I don’t know who it is – maybe it’s skaters trying to claim the area as their own.

“The county council should know if their logo is being used.”

A county spokesman has confirmed that the signs were not placed by them.