Serbian road signs end up as sizzling barbecues

On a roughly 100-kilometre (60-mile) road between Cacak and Valjevo, about 150 signs have disappeared in the past three years.

BELGRADE, March 18, 2010 (AFP) - Already rare, road signs are disappearing at an alarming rate in central Serbia where locals use them for grills, tools and roofing, the Beta newsagency said Thursday.

On a roughly 100-kilometre (60-mile) road between Cacak and Valjevo, about 150 signs have disappeared in the past three years, local official Jovina Carevic told Beta.

In the Gornji Milanovac sector, more than 100 roadsigns were taken in 2009, he added.

The poles the signs are mounted on are used to make gates and doorways while the signs themselves are transformed into barbecues or used for roofing.

Local authorities said they are trying to come up with ways to stop the theft which weighs heavily on the municipal budget.