BOLTON'S rush-hour motorists have joined the fight to free the 'Weatherfield One'. Dozens of drivers showed their support for imprisoned Coronation Street character Deirdre Rachid by tooting their car horns as they drove to work yesterday morning. The united display came as traffic snaked past a special 'Free Dierdre' poster which had been erected alongside St Peter's Way.

And the brainchild behind the poster campaign expressed himself satisfied at the public's response.

Oliver Hodkinson, who works at nearby J Atherton Ltd, fruit and vegetable wholesalers, made the sign during his early morning teabreak with help from his workmates. The 23-year-old Lostock man even bedecked the poster in daffodils.

He joked: "Really, this is just a laugh but all the lads who watch the show were upset that she's not had a fair trial.

"When the sign first went up everyone who was passing pipped their horn and a few had a laugh with us.

"I reckon that even those who don't beep their horn out loud are secretly beeping a horn in their mind. We want Deirdre freed.

"When you're driving to work in the morning we figured that something like this would help to cheer people up and it seems to have worked. The best response comes when people at the traffic lights. That's when we get the most beeps."

And Oliver, of Meriden Grove, Lostock, says that - based on the response so far - Deirdre won't be doing 'bird' for long. He added: "She'll soon be out and that's all we want."

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