Highway bosses have been criticised for removing posters made by children that pay tributes to NHS staff and key workers which were attached to a bridge on the M5 motorway.
The banners, created by villagers in Kempsey, Worcs, aimed to thank the nation's key workers for their contribution during the coronavirus pandemic.
Highways England said they had to remove the banners for safety reasons - but will reflect the children's messages by setting special signage on motorways during the weekly #Clapforheroes event on Thursday.
The morale-boosting love heart signs were made with the help of youngsters using bed sheets and were attached on a bridge near the M5 using heavy-duty cable ties.
Motorists showed their support by sounding their horns and ambulances would even flash their lights or activate sirens to acknowledge the community's thanks.
However, the signs, which were put up between junctions 7 and 8 on April 2, were taken down that night.
Locals replaced the signs the next morning - but they were removed again that evening.
Johnny Boyd, 51, who put up the signs with neighbour Shelly Pope, 40, immediately wrote to Jim O'Sullivan, chief executive of Highways England.
He was told it was illegal to display signs on motorway bridges without planning permission and that they could be a health and safety hazard.
Mr Boyd said: "We live out in quite a rural community, there are probably 20 houses and a pub.
"We are a couple of miles from the village and our only link out is the motorway bridge.
"We're out in the middle of nowhere here, so there's nobody to hear us clapping on the street.
"It's not like a street in a town centre with everyone out on their doorsteps, so this was a way of showing out gratitude.
"We made the banners, put them on the bridge and they disappeared. We put some out again.
"One of my friends was coming back at 11pm from her shift in the hospital and saw Highways England workers taking them down.
"The next day I wrote to the chief executive Jim O'Sullivan and he replied saying the signs were illegal and we had to take them down over safety concerns."
Shelly, a dog park business owner, added: "We put them up and painted them. My 11-year-old daughter Zoe did the painting.
"We secured them to the bridge really securely using countless cable ties. They were not going anywhere, but Highways England were not happy about them.
"They were concerned about them falling down and being a potential distraction to drivers."
Highways England returned the banners to the residents which now now adorn their local pub Talbot Inn instead.
Following a backlash, transport bosses have now agreed to light up overhead signs tomorrow with the message "Thanks to all our key workers."
Mr Boyd added: "They came up with a compromise to light up the overhead gantries with your message.
"They'll do it first this Thursday on our bridge and then they've promised to do it further and further.
"Hopefully lots of people will see it as they travel past. It is for all the essential workers, whether they're food delivery drivers or lorry drivers.
"They'll do it locally first and then roll in out nationally.
"This will be the first time they have displayed a national message of support. It is unprecedented. So something good has hopefully come out of this.
"We put our signs up on the village pub instead so people can see them as they drive home from work.
"One ambulance driver who stopped shouted up at us 'this means the world to me' and I told him he put the united into United Kingdom."
A Highways England spokesperson said: "Everyone at Highways England is incredibly grateful for the everything the NHS, emergency services and others are doing at this difficult time.
"It was fantastic to see children in Worcestershire create their banners to support those on the frontline.
"And while, for safety reasons, we sadly had to take the banners down from a bridge over the M5, on Thursday evening as part of the weekly #Clapforheroes event, we’ll reflect the children’s messages by setting special signage on motorways.”
