Residents have come together to clean road signs on Liverpool's famous Penny Lane after they were left covered in graffiti.
Locals Emmett O’Neill and Lucy Comerford were seen using cleaning products to scrub the signs on the Mossley Hill road this afternoon, after they were targeted in a series of acts of vandalism.
The signs have been sprayed over so the word Penny is no longer visible, while graffiti with the word "racist" has also been sprayed on a wall behind one of the signs.
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Photos shared on social media this morning also show the words "Penny was a slave trader" sprayed near another of the road signs.
The graffiti comes after it was suggested by some that the road - famously celebrated by The Beatles - was actually named after prominent slave ship owner James Penny.
However this is widely disputed, with local politicians and historians saying there is no evidence this is where the street name derives from.
Resident Emmett O'Neill, who was out cleaning road signs today, said: "There are ways and means, defacing Penny Lane signs isn't going to change a lot.
"I just think it's the wrong way to go about things."
Mr O'Neill said he can understand that the graffiti has most likely been put on the road signs following suggestions that it was named after James Penny but "it isn't the way to get it done."
He added: "I can understand it and to be perfectly honest I'm not entirely 100% on the history of the naming of the lane or the gentleman himself, but I would reiterate that if you want something done there are ways and means.
"Defacing road signs, in my opinion, isn't the way to get it done."
Hundreds of people have also taken to social media to express their views on the graffiti this afternoon.
ECHO reader Claire Cotgrave said: "Vandalising Street signs, removing status/street signs will not change the past!!"
Angela Navin said: "Call it what you will, but this is vandalism.
"Discussions are being had to decide the next course of action and people know this but still some people deem it their right to take the law into their own hands, it’s so sad."
ECHO reader Julie Doran said: "People should get their facts right before defacing anything lets remember our past so we don't make the same mistakes in our future."
When asked if he would rename Penny Lane this week, the Mayor said : "My understanding is that there is no evidence that 'Penny Lane' is named after slave trader James Penny.
"It is debated and said that there was a toll bridge that cost a penny there, hence its name."
