Two resourceful Dagenham children built a traffic calming snowman after seeing motorists drive at speed along their street.

Dozens of families and drivers stopped to admire the figure on Sunday but today the siblings were disappointed to find the snowman - which featured on Sky News - had been destroyed.

Danielle Fallows-Davies, 11 and her brother Thomas, six, crafted the grumpy looking man, complete with a high visibility jacket and “Slow Down” sign, outside their home in Becontree Avenue on Sunday.

The Grafton Primary School pupils and dad Paul Davies became concerned after noticing that motorists were driving at speed along the road despite the hazardous conditions.

Paul, a manager for Transport for London, explained: “I came home from work, where I was clearing snow so the trains could continue running, and the kids wanted to make a snowman. When we went out we saw that people were driving dangerously fast, some 10 or 20mph over the speed limit, even though it was snowy and icy.

“The children then came up with the idea of making a traffic calming snowman. I gave them one of my high vis jackets and Thomas made the sign. Loads of people stopped to look at it and take pictures and a lot of motorists did drive slower.”

The snowman even made it on to Sky News website, says Paul. Not everyone, however, showed their appreciation.

Paul said: “We got a few people tooting at us, probably because didn’t like being told to slow down, and then someone decided to damage the snowman, which wasn’t very nice. But at least it worked for a while. I just hope people will take more care when driving along the roads during the cold weather.”