18 months after the Department for Transport unveiled its new sign to warn drivers of small animals on the road, it’s turned out not one has been placed on our roads.

The This is Money website reports that only four local authorities have actually applied to display the sign, and all of those have been denied.

This is Money says they did not provide enough evidence to the DfT that they have a high concentration of the animals in their areas.

A freedom of information request by the AA shows Newcastle City Council, Middlesbrough Council, Surrey County Council and East Riding of Yorkshire Council applied, but the Department said all four had “failed to evidence any concentrations of small animals habitually in the road, or provide any accident data”.

Fay Vass, chief executive at the British Hedgehog Preservation Society, told This is Money, “We are disappointed that more authorities aren’t applying for the small mammal signs that feature a hedgehog and that the DfT are rejecting those that do.”

The sign was announced by then-Transport Secretary Chris Grayling in June last year. He said at the time, “The new small mammal warning sign should help to reduce the number of people killed and injured, as well as helping our precious small wild mammal population to flourish.”

(Picture – Department for Transport press release)