A COMPANY boss fears a rogue protester could be behind punctures putting the lives of drivers at risk at a firm adjacent to the site of a controversial communications mast.
However he said he did not believe the protesters who gathered daily at the site were responsible.
Dave Bruce, boss of cleaning materials firm DJB Supplies at Corner Road, Pillowell, says a total of 19 nails have been taken from a delivery van and four cars, and six tyres have had to be replaced.
"It is highly dangerous. What if my driver was doing 70mph down the motorway and his tyre blew?" he said.
"I fear too for drivers using this lane who may pick up a nail, which is why I want to alert them to the danger. It would be a good idea for them to check their tyres."
The nails were of two types – roofing felt nails about three quarters of an inch long with large flat heads which could be put upright on a road, and far more lethal one and a half inch long bright steel nails which would have to be driven into a tyre.
The latter, which had small heads and could not stand up in the road, had caused the punctures, but more roofing felt nails had been found in the lane by a resident who had shown them to Mr Bruce.
His own car, his wife's car and three other vehicles including the van had been hit.
"Forest of Dean Tyres were horrified. They agreed it could not be a coincidence," he said. The police have told him they cannot act without witnesses.
However protesters, who have also suffered tyre damage in the lane say they think the cause is more innocent – carelessly dropped felt nails from nearby roofing work and similarly distributed longer nails from work on power poles for the proposed masts.
The protesters have now been picketing the main road end of the lane for several months, and they are pinning their hopes on a judicial review to halt the application by Orange for the mast. News of this should come through this week, they say.
They have written to the Review disassociating themselves from any illegal activities in respect of picketing the lane-end.
"Since the first day of our protest we have given Mr Thomas (the mast site owner) assurances that we would use every legal avenue to try to prevent the operation of this mast, and we have been true to our word," they state.
Mr Bruce said he would like to point out that DJB Supplies had nothing to do with the mast site owned by his father in law, John Thomas, who has retired from the business.