News / News Wire
Mysterious billboards appear across Bristol
“It’s illegal to use a legal name.”
That’s the message on mysterious billboards that have been appearing in locations across Bristol, including on Albert Road near its junction with Feeder Road (above) and on Bath Road near the Three Lamps junction (below).
The billboards have popped up across the UK accompanied by much confusion and scratching of heads.
Nobody seems to know what message the people who have paid for the adverts are hoping to get across, but a website, www.legalnamefraud.com, gives more information.
And it’s rather confusing: “When ‘they’ (your parents?) registered your birth on the certificate, they unknowingly gave ownership of this name to the Crown Corporation. Simply thus, all legal names are owned by the Crown, and therefore using a legal name without their written permission is fraud.”
This is of course complete nonsense with this interpretation of the law having no legal validity.
“It’s a kind of brew of pseudo-legal ideas,” barrister, law blogger and lecturer Carl Gardner told BBC News.
“It’s the equivalent of thinking Harry Potter is science.”
Want to get your message across free of bemusement? Advertise on Bristol24/7.