It is the kind of hotel where there are many signs. Signs to tell you where to park. Where not to park. How to operate the trouser press which comes as standard with your room. Signs to tell you how to order the continental room service breakfast. Signs to tell you that use of the gymnasium requires payment of a small surcharge.

But of all the signs, the blue and green ones which adorn every corner of the car park are the most baffling.

“All users of this car park note that the company does not accept any liability whatsoever for any loss (including but not limited to theft) of or damage to any vehicle for any contents thereof whilst in this car park or any injury to or death of any user of this car park or any other person in this car park save where the same is proven to arise out of or because by the companies servants or agents negligent wilful act or default or breach of statutory duty.”

This single, run-on, car-crash sentence is posted prominently at least a dozen times. It appears on trees, on lamposts, bolted to walls. One copy of it, a little faded and rusty, is even tucked away amongst the bushes.

It is clear that a great deal of time and energy has been expended in the crafting and installation of this sign. But what does it mean? What is the intended purpose? What incident drove the hotel to such bizarre and frantic lengths?

The baffling effect of the sign is all the more potent for its quotidian nature. We are used to such signage. If we read only the first few lines it appears to make sense. But beyond this point? Clauses begin to pile on top of one another. Conjunctions pop up unexpectedly in the middle of sentences. The words “car park” become a mantra that rings through the babble like a bell.

Can an act be both wilful and negligent? What is the difference between a servant and an agent? Who is the company? Who is a user of the car park, and who is not? The sign poses many questions and answers none. When questioned politely about its intended meaning, hotel staff appear puzzled, hesitant. The origin of the sign eludes them.

One wonders, should there be a death in the car park of the Leeds Bradford Airport Hotel, if this notice might provide any legal protection for the hotel and its servants. Perhaps. Perhaps not. Perhaps it is, like a dummy security camera, not intended to be scrutinised so closely.