SWINDON'S strong winds have claimed an unlikely victim. For at least 25 years the pub sign for the New Calley Arms in Ham Road, Wanborough, has stood proudly on a pole outside.

But on Friday morning, after hours of strong gusts, low pressure and rain, the black-painted sign gave way, landing on a parked lorry.

Simon Coakes, the landlord of the pub, said: "It's been up for years, certainly the five years I have been here and for the 18 years that the previous owners were here, so it's sad to see the sign like this.

"It embedded itself in a truck that was parked in the road but that's all been sorted out.

" I am not really sure what happened. Maybe the wood has just rotted over the years and after the weather we've been having, it's now just given up.

"I hope to put it back in but I am not sure if it will be in the same place.

"I am glad that nobody was hurt by it as it could have been very nasty."