A business in St. John’s which caters to tourists and is ranked in the top 10 per cent by Trip Advisor is furious after the provincial government wrecked and disposed of a $3,000 sign he had erected on the side of the highway in Bay Bulls.
Legend Tours installed a sign on the TCH outside St. John’s about five years ago, and last year asked government for permission to do the same on Highway 10 to capture the traffic entering metro from the Southern Shore. Owner Brendan Quinlan was told it wasn’t within their jurisdiction, and that he would have to go through the Town of Bay Bulls. So he did and the billboard, he says, was legally erected.
To his bewilderment, Quinlan got a call from somebody in the town telling him that his sign was being dismantled by chainsaw.
He says sawing it off was the only real way to remove the sign as it weighs about 800 pounds and was cemented into the ground.
Looking for answers from government, he was told that the structure had been destroyed as it was an illegal sign.
Quinlan says he’s in absolute shock that they would destroy a sign that belongs to a small business. He wants government to take accountability and correct the issue.