The truth about Urdu street signs in Britain

An obviously Photoshopped image designed to whip up a fury among right wingers has, predictably, done the job well.

A picture which looks like it's taken from Google Maps of a junction on the A658 in West Yorkshire shows nearby towns and the airport supposedly signposted in Urdu as well as in English.

There are three tiny facts worth pointing out, however:

1) It's not Urdu, it's Arabic.

2) It doesn't translate to the place names (Harrogate just says 'salaam alaikum').

3) It's not even real. The photoshopped text isn't even straight, ffs.

Nonetheless, the picture has been doing the rounds in the toxic grief pit inhabited by racists on social media.

It also appears to have formed the backbone of a story on a dodgy "news" site called the New Observer.

The page has since been deleted, but the cached version says that signs around Bradford were installed at the request of Bradford's Grand Mufti Mohammed Amin al Husseini at a cost of more than £100,000, because "English only road signs were putting Urdu speakers at unnecessary risk.”

A Google search for 'Grand Mufti Mohammed Amin al Husseini' doesn't come up with anyone. And as we've already established, the signs are fake, so no one forked out £100,000 for them.

The New Observer story also features some more signs utilising the Photoshop skills of a seven-year-old, which we have reproduced here for your enjoyment:

A local pointed out that the top picture can be immediately discounted as fake because the Google Maps version features the same white van behind the sign - we checked, and it's true:

The same goes for the other two.

The New Observer has since taken to their Facebook page to say that they were the victim of an "elaborate hoax" over the fake Urdu signs:

You say elaborate hoax, we say blindingly obvious Photoshop designed to spread hatred and fear which you probably re-posted on purpose.

Let's agree to disagree, shall we?

More: An Arabic message of love caused people in Texas to completely freak out