Skip to main content

Godshilla makes a run for it and blocks Isle of Wight road

It was a heart-stopping moment late one night as a car approached an 8m tall animal that was blocking the road. Most people, seeing what should have been an extinct dinosaur – a triceratops – in their path would have turned and run in the opposite direction. But for people in the English village of Godsill, on the Isle of Wight, the dinosaur was a well-known resident, albeit not a living animal. Chris Hollingshead snapped the photo and put it on his Facebook, which can be seen by clicking here.
February 23, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
It was a heart-stopping moment late one night as a car approached an 8m tall animal that was blocking the road.

Most people, seeing what should have been an extinct dinosaur – a triceratops – in their path would have turned and run in the opposite direction.

But for people in the English village of Godsill, on the Isle of Wight, the dinosaur was a well-known resident, albeit not a living animal.

Chris Hollingshead snapped the photo and put it on his Facebook, which can be seen by %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkExternal clicking here Visit facebook page false https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=904716539576905&amp;set=a.421420157906548.97881.100001157027006&amp;type=3&amp;theater false false%>.

It was a priceless moment, he told local media. But he knew that animal, called Godshilla, was a statue prop for a nearby retailer.

Martin Simpson, who owns Island Gems, a shop that sells gems and fossils, told local media that his Godshilla was stolen as a prank from outside his shop and it probably took five people to move the creature onto the road.

To prevent the dinosaur going walk-about again, he said Godshilla will be painted soon, and put into a fenced-in garden.

Related Content

  • A future UK government should focus more on potholes and road safety
    April 10, 2015
    With a national UK election looming next month, a future government must make road safety a top priority, said the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM). Half of motorists in a recent survey of 2,156 people, and conducted IAM in March, said the current administration has not given the issue as much attention as is needed. The number one issue that the government should be focussing on, according to 70% of respondents, is the reduction of the number of potholes. The backlog of repairs now tops more
  • ARTBA launching student video competition for 2015
    February 18, 2015
    The American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) is running its annual student video competition. This is set up to challenge students of all ages to produce a two-to-four minute video about America’s transportation infrastructure. World Highways continues to support this competition and has also posted links to those videos from past winners and runners up on its websites in previous years. The ARTBA Student Video Competition is now in its fifth year. The aim of the competition is to raise a
  • Video: Passenger car gives a lift to a white van in Spain
    December 23, 2015
    Maybe the driver of the Ford Focus passenger vehicle didn’t notice at first that he had a white van on the roof of the car. Or maybe he did, as the video, taken this year, shows. However, police in the Spanish town didn’t take kindly to either the driver of the passenger car or the person taking the video, according to media reports.
  • European Day Without A Road Death: ‘Everyone’s vulnerable’
    September 25, 2019
    This year’s European Day Without A Road Death (Project EDWARD) takes place today, emphasising a theme of vulnerability. It is organised by the European Traffic Police Network (TISPOL), which offers a somewhat pessimistic view of the state of play. “We have spent time reflecting on recent results which paint a very mixed picture of progress in reducing deaths and serious injuries on Europe’s roads,” TISPOL says in a statement. “For the first few years of this decade, countries across the EU have been highly