590 miles to paint 17ft yellow lines

HIGHWAY contractors working for Devon County Council will end up travelling more than 1,000 miles to paint only 17 feet of double yellow lines.

The contractors have already completed a 590-mile round trip from Leeds to Ashburton.

But the lines they painted are “about as straight as a donkey’s hind leg”, and the contractors have been ordered to come back and do a proper job, according to local councillor John Nutley.

Teignbridge councillor Mr Nutley, who lives in Ashburton, said: “I am told the contractors reckoned it was their only job and they didn’t mind travelling from Leeds because they were on good money.

“I can’t believe the waste of money to bring down contractors from Leeds nearly 300 miles away. There must be good local highways firms who could have done this work and, presumably, painted the double yellows in a straight line.”

A Devon County Council spokesman said: “This work hasn’t cost council taxpayers a penny. The line painting has been carried out by an external contractor, Kiely Bros, at their expense in order to install yellow lines that had been missed from a surfacing scheme they had previously undertaken.

“Once aware of the error the contractor responded by sending a team as soon as possible to rectify the road markings, and they will be taking up the issue of the quality of the workmanship directly with the site staff.”