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A ROAD safety campaigner has been highlighting the ‘appalling’ condition of UK roads by spray-painting the outline of a penis around potholes.

The anonymous artist, who has called himself ‘Wanksy’ after the popular street artist Banksy, explained he decided to draw attention to potholes in Greater Manchester, England, after some of his cyclist friends were injured on the roads because of them.

He said: ‘I wanted to attract attention to the pothole and make it memorable. Nothing seemed to do this better than a giant comedy phallus.

‘It’s also speedy; I don’t want to be in the road for a long time. It seems to have become my signature. I just want to make people smile and draw attention to the problem.’

The graffiti artist allegedly uses non-permanent paint that washes out within a week or two.

He told BBC Newsbeat that he considers his scheme to be successful, having noticed that potholes are getting fixed more quickly.

‘People will drive over the same pothole and forget about it,’ he said.

‘Suddenly you draw something amusing around it, everyone sees it and it either gets reported or fixed.’

It would seem not everyone agrees with Mr. Wanksy, however. A council spokesperson in the area said: ‘Has this person, for just one second, considered how families with young children must feel when they are confronted with these obscene symbols as they walk to school?

‘Not only is this vandalism, but it’s also counter-productive.

‘Every penny that we have to spend cleaning off this graffiti is a penny less that we have to spend on actually repairing the potholes.’

Find a full gallery of ‘Wanksy’s’ work below.

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