In May 2002 Bennett was prosecuted for removing 29 metric road signs, claiming they were illegal and that he was preventing the law from being broken.
The judge stated that "there was no evidence of dishonesty or that he intended to permanently deprive the owners of their signs."
His conviction for criminal damage was upheld, but the judge discharged the sentence, which had been 50 hours of community service.
Many English people have a strong sense of place and we are sure many of them will fight hard to keep alive and healthy the names and the real boundaries of our Counties.CountyWatch sees the abolition of democratically elected county councils in the UK as part of a long-term project to weaken the constituent nations of Europe, notably the UK, and to concentrate power at two levels: Brussels (the European Commission) and the "regions" within countries.
[9] On 9 August 2007, CountyWatch removed four Welcome to Bedfordshire signs from Luton, claiming they were misleading to the public.
"[11] On 10 November 2005, Tony Bennett removed a Dorset sign from Chewton Bunny at Highcliffe and moved it to its historic location at the original County Gates border between Bournemouth and Poole, claiming that while Bournemouth and neighbouring Christchurch had been administered by Dorset County Council for the past 30 years, they remained historically Hampshire towns.
[13] The BBC and Tyne Tees Television filmed CountyWatch removing the boundary signs at Royal Oak.
Durham County Council issued a statement saying that CountyWatch's actions were "nothing more than sheer vandalism, no less mindless or anti-social than smashing bus stops or phone boxes".
[14] In November 2005 CountyWatch removed over thirty 'Welcome to Lancashire' signs from Blackburn, Blackpool, Skelmersdale and Southport, placing all of them on the historic Lancashire/Yorkshire border at Blacko near Nelson, where they telephoned the Council's Solicitor.
Lancashire County Council reacted by stating that "the cost of replacing the signs would be met from taxpayers' money."
The Welcome to Lancashire signs were erected on the boundaries with Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool unitary authorities by the county council in 2004 to show where its services begin.
"[15] The signs which were dumped by the side of the A682 in Blacko, near to the historic border with Yorkshire, were recovered by Lancashire County Council who stated that they would re-erect them.
[16] CountyWatch also claimed to have removed the larger brown-coloured motorway signs on the M6, M66 and M61 which read "Welcome to Lancashire the Red Rose County".
[17] On 27 July 2005, the BBC TV Look North regional news programme featured the group and filmed it in the act of removing a "Welcome to the County of Lincolnshire" sign near Brigg.
Lincolnshire County Council Area Highways Manager Eric Jorgensen described the group as "self-appointed and unelected" and stated that taxpayers would be forced to pay for the signs to be replaced.