There is no symbol in the Highway Code for when drivers should be instructed to start urinating.

But some jokers obviously felt it was a glaring omission that needed rectifying.

How else to explain the touch of editing applied to a road sign at Ditchling Beacon near Brighton?

The letters on this sign carrying the reasonable warning to "reduce speed now" have been covered in dirt. But six have been cleaned to give the more unusual order: "Pee now".

This is not the first time in recent memory that mischief-makers have tampered with street signs.

Last June a sarcastic comment was provided alongside the floral "Welcome To Our City" greeting at the edge of the A23 in Patcham, Brighton.

The plants had overgrown, making the message unreadable.

This prompted someone to add their own greeting sign, bearing the sardonic message: "Can you read this? If not, you should have gone to Specsavers."