Love locks - basically just vandalism?

[SnoozingFox]

Piece on the One Show about those people who attach padlocks to bridges and it's being pushed as an "awwww isn't this lovely, it's a gesture of love, people come back every year to see their lock, such as shame when they have to be removed" and I'm sitting thinking the opposite.

It's no different from scratching your initials into the bricks of a castle, or spray painting a wall. Vandalism. Nobody cares that some random bridge is where you had your first date or your boyfriend proposed. Nobody wants to walk across a city centre bridge covered in padlocks which the council then eventually have to pay to remove.

Leave no trace.

To be fair, there are a lot of people who tweet shit too.

I'm not keen on the ribbons either, but easier to remove than the locks.

Nothing says romance more than a Yale padlock.. what a load of bollocks

It was an Italian film that started the craze - Ho Voglia Di Te

One of those things that was cute when the first person did it. Now that hundreds are doing it on dozens of bridges it’s just tacky and basically littering. The only one that I’ve seen that I thought was ok was one in America which was specifically set up for dog collars for bereaved pet owners - while not my kind of thing at all it at least isn’t damaging public spaces or historic structures and it was created for that purpose. Maybe there’s a business opportunity to build a bridge somewhere scenic for lovers and sell padlocks on the gate - least it would be an actual attraction instead of appropriating public spaces.

No, not vandalism. Vandalism makes a permanent damage or disfigurement to a place.

Love locks are litter.

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/news/love-locks-banned-tourist-destinations

lonely planet agrees!

it’s a bit like coins thrown in water for luck - you see them in the most random places

It’s moronic.

I haven’t been to Paris for a while, but the Pont des Arts being covered in them used always to annoy me. And then the idiots throw the keys into the river! I know it’s illegal now, but I bet those halfwit sheep still do it.

There’s a beautiful area close to our house, acres of glorious countryside - really popular with walkers. For a while, the stupids started attaching padlocks to a particular gate and of course, more fuckwits copied them. I’m pleased that signage and constant removal seems to have knocked it on the head.

Agreed. Pointless, ugly, damaging and costs cities a fortune to have them removed from damaged bridges. If anyone suggested doing it "for me", that would be the end of the relationship!

I genuinely don't understand.... why on earth is it "cute"??

Yeah we should all just come here into this physical environment, live and die and leave no trace. Bloody misanthrope.

They don’t bother me. Quite a nice gesture if you have your padlock engraved with your names etc. I also appreciate well painted murals/graffiti.

Traditional padlocks are made of brass, quite a lucrative metal to recycle, so one way of recovering costs when the council clears them off.
I know a bridge in Rome was stripped by scrap metal merchants one night and the Via dell’Amore in Liguria has designated railings for you to hang your padlock.
Its not just mindless vandalism IMO.

A nice gesture @Sgtmajormummy if you padlock it to your garden gate. Not at a beauty spot or tourist attraction.

I always quite liked them, I thought they were quite artistic in a way, and quite sweet. This thread has made me think though.

I think it's more like littering than vandalism, but still disagree with it. What's wrong with a photo? The keys are supposed to be thrown into the river below which is further littering and must cause issues downstream or in the river bed.

I'll stick my neck out and answer this.

I put my lock on there 11yrs ago, the day after my dad died.
I wasn't the first, I wasn't the last. There were many in-between with many stories.
The council were refurbing the deck of the bridge. They didn't need to remove the locks, it was proven they weren't causing an issue.
Bakewells loss of income from the people who visited the 40,000 locks is now Thornbridges Halls gain.

It's a little bit of social history.

I absolutely agree, but then I also think Banksy should be arrested for criminal damage!

I had no idea the keys were thrown into the water. I assumed people kept them.

That does suck.

Like a lot of things. Whether it's an attaching a padlock to that bridge which make escapes me in Paris or throwing coins into the Trevi fountain in Rome. Once it's translated into the British version. It's tacky

🤣🤣🤣

Until this thread, I never knew this twattish behaviour with padlocks was a thing.

Have you been living in a cave for the last decade?

Clearly. Either that, or I visit places where casual vandalism is not encouraged and stupid things like this are removed immediately so I don't see them.

From a magical practitioners point of view, these padlocks are a bad thing. A very bad thing!

Next time you cross water via a bridge, have a look. It's everywhere. And it's everything it's been described as upthread except "cute" and "fine", plus I'd add "wasteful".

They are an abomination.