ANGRY villagers may be forced to pull down a sign warning motorists they are approaching "Death Hill" - or face prosecution.

The seven-foot sign, featuring a chilling image of a black coffin, was put up on the A19 at Thormanby, near Easingwold, to alert drivers to the road's appalling accident record.

There have been four fatal accidents since 1997 on the road, which goes over a hill as it passes through the village - but no accidents or fatalities have happened since two placards went up.

Now Hambleton District Council officers say the sign is unauthorised and want the parish council to be ordered to remove it within two weeks, or face prosecution.

Steve Quartermain, director of planning and environmental services, said: "The sign requires advertisement consent and in the event of such an application being submitted it would be recommended for refusal on the grounds of amenity and highway safety."

He said the Highways Agency had been consulted and believed the sign was a distraction to drivers and could potentially lead to safety problems.

But one leading safety campaigner from Thormanby, Steven Suart , said today that villagers would not remove the sign.

Barry Dodd, chairman of Thormanby Parish Council, said two placards were placed there last October to try to get some notice about the dangers and as part of a campaign to get a bypass built. One has been removed after pressure from the district council.

He said: "It would be really smart if our local authorities would concentrate on removing the hazards, then we wouldn't need the placards in the first place."

Mr Quartermain said in a report to members of Hambleton District Council's planning committee: "It is recommended that the parish council be formally requested to remove the sign within two weeks and that in the event of it not being removed, prosecution proceedings be commenced."

Hambleton councillor Geoff Ellis said that although he understood the reasons for the placards, they must now be removed. "The parish council and local residents cannot take the law into their own hands," he said.

The matter will be debated by Hambleton District Council planning committee on April 19 at the Civic Centre, Northallerton.

Updated: 10:22 Friday, April 13, 2001