DRIVERS left fuming by the UK's most hated bollard have tried to bend, crush and set it on fire - forcing a tracking device to be fitted.
The plastic bollard on Oxford's Howard Street has also been set alight by vandals and run over by delivery vans.
It is one of the city's Low Traffic Neighbourhood barriers, making it an object of loathing for local motorists.
Oxford residents have destroyed 20 other bollards in night-time attacks, with some set on fire and others ripped out of the ground.
Motors including a taxi and a DPD delivery van deliberately ran over the LTN barriers.
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Council bosses have replaced the plastic bollards with steel ones at a cost of £100,000 to the taxpayer.
Now fans of the bollards have fitted them with trackers to find out where vandals are taking them.
Zuhura Plummer of Oxfordshire Liveable Streets revealed that the hated bollard on Howard Street was thrown through a broken window into a deserted house just yards away.
Residents said that they are terrified of the "mindless thugs" vandalising the LTN barriers.
Mum Josie Proctor told the Mail: "My main concern is that by vandalising bollards they put vulnerable road users like kids cycling to school in danger as they don't expect a car barrelling towards them where they expected a filter.
"I've seen so many near misses, it's only a matter of time before someone gets seriously hurt.
"Protesting is one thing, but these mindless thugs have cost taxpayers £100,000 to replace the barriers with steel bollards and many hours of police and council workers' time which could be better used.
'We're really pleased that councillors are now installing steel bollards that will be much harder to destroy but we'd like to see some official cameras installed that could catch and fine those that flout the rules and the thugs that destroy public property and endanger lives.'
"We ask the vandals as one neighbour to another to please respect the trial and help keep all those walking and cycling on these roads safe."
It's only a matter of time before someone gets seriously hurt
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Local Elizabeth Mills, 71, said: "What really makes me angry is the vandalism.
"I simply don't think people should go around breaking the law because they disagree - call me old fashioned but I don't."
Councillor Andrew Gant said: "This is a key moment in the continuation of the LTN trial in east Oxford.
"Ongoing damage has come at a significant cost to both the council and Thames Valley Police in both time and money, with potentially serious consequences for people’s safety.
"Damage to the bollards and persistent use of the low traffic neighbourhood streets as through-roads is not only a risk for the safety of road users but impacts monitoring data quality, which could delay the decision on the trial."
It comes after a driver who is set to be charged £12.50 a day under new Clean Air Zone rules revealed how he got his revenge on jobsworth transport bosses.
