A council has defended bizarre double yellow lines painted across the MIDDLE of a road – by claiming they are “technically correct”.
The pointless markings have been put at the place where a road has since been extended and highways officials admit it was ‘very unlikely’ anyone would park there.
Local businesses say it was “nuts” they were drawn in the first place and attacked the council for a lack of common sense.
The council has now agreed to remove them – but insist they were still right to put them there.
The lines appeared across the road at the Threemilestone Industrial Estate on the outskirts of Truro, Cornwall last week.
Mark Mitchell, 45, who runs interior design business Stylehome, said they were “obviously unsuitable” and it was “beyond belief”.
Mark said: “It is nuts. Taken into isolation it could be something to laugh about but the council have made a lot of bad decisions around the roads and we already have significant roadworks all around the entrance to our business.
“And then they go and do this.
“They have not got a plan for anything. Surely the guys running the machine would have thought it was stupid to run a line across the middle of a road.
“It seems crazy. Regardless of what plans there are, to physically put them in shows no common sense.
“They are literally straight across the middle of the road. This on top of everything else has really stirred the hornet’s nest around here.
“They might now be removing them – but they should never have been put in in the first place.”
Cornwall Council said the road used had been extended but the traffic order for the area had not been updated.
They said: “The developer was not required to amend the traffic order to extend the waiting restrictions along the new road, so legally, the current order still only runs to the former turning head.
“The yellow lines across the road, whilst appearing to be an unfortunate error, are in fact technically correct.
“However, we recognise that it is highly unlikely that anyone would park a vehicle across the highway at this point, and we will therefore remove the offending section and apply transverse markings to denote the end of the restriction adjacent to the kerb.”
The lines appeared the same week a contractor made a mistake while painting road safety markings outside Truro High School.
The worker added an extra ‘h’ in school in these other confusing road markings to emerge this week.
New lines will not be painted along the new part of the road at the industrial estate until the traffic order is updated, which could take some time due to the costs involved.
The council statement added: “We are not however able to place lines along the remainder of the road because to do so requires the legal order to be updated.
“As this is a costly exercise, we will endeavour to do this at the next available opportunity as resources become available.”
