White Van Number 1

White vans are an inexhaustible source of grammatical and linguistic unpleasantness. Scarcely a day goes by (especially if I travel anywhere by road) when I don't spot some terrible crime against the English language being driven around, bold as brass and without a care in the world. Therefore, this post forms the first in what I suspect may become a regular feature here - I'll even create a label specially. White vans. I love them.

The photo below was taken in the car park of the cinema in Derby, immediately after I had snapped the previous two beauties. I thought my supply of fury was used up for the day, but no - imagine my rage joy when I found this, parked just by our car:

Competetive. COMPETETIVE. I ask you. How much effort would that have taken to check and correct? Do signwriters not read what they are writing? If they do read it, do they care, or have any pride in their work? Evidently not.

I drove out of the cinema car park that day somewhere between spluttering fury and unseemly glee, the latter because one of my children also noticed this error and pointed it out. Ladies and gentlemen, I am proudly spreading the joy rage to the next generation. You're welcome.