God Bless the Manhole Covers

Town Hall officials have asked priests to bless all the manhole covers in their town to stop them being stolen by scrap metal thieves.

Councillors in Lodz, Poland, replaced all 4,000 of the town's manhole covers after the new ones had been blessed at a church service to keep them safe.

Town sewage department president Wlodzmierz Tomaszewski explained: "Lodz's holy patron is Saint Faustina who walked the streets helping the poor and underprivileged. "By blessing the manhole covers we are blessing the streets and spreading her goodness," he added.

But locals think the project is money down the drain. "If they think a few prayers will keep all those new manhole covers safe from thieves they need to think again. There won't be one left within a month," said one.