Blundering council workers were slammed today for painting white lines over a series of giant potholes instead of filling them in.
Stunned residents discovered central lines had been painted across half a dozen holes and craters up to 4ft long along one stretch of road in Buntingford, Herts.
Locals who have been appealing for the potholes to be filled in for the past year blasted the council for wasting money by painting an area that will then have to be dug up.
Disgusted neighbour Brian Austin, 68, spotted the workmen painting along Bowling Green Lane without filling in the holes which were up to 4in deep.
Mr Austin, who is also a town councillor for Buntingford, said: ”It’s not just daft but a complete waste of taxpayers’ money.
”The work has got to be done, I understand, but of you come up to put holes like these you stop at the edge of it and wait for someone to come and fill it in.
”Bowling Green Lane is a busy road and has lots of traffic because there are two schools on it and lots of houses.
”So there is constant traffic and those pot holes have been there for a long time.
”If you are driving along the road you make efforts to avoid them or else you could damage your car.
”They are so big its unbelievable the council workmen have done this.
”Someone is going to have to come back fill in the pot holes and put down the white lines again. What a stupid waste.
”It is silly no one bothered to fill in the pot holes, parents driving their kids to school and residents are getting peeved off with all of this.”
Two trucks were on the road on Friday July 23 and workmen pushed a paint wagon down the middle of the road.
The work was part of a major white lining programme across Buntingford.
Bowling Green Lane is around 400 yards long with dozens of houses and two schools – Edwinstree Middle School and Freeman College.
Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ”The council needs to plan work like this better so that potholes are filled in before the lines are painted.
”Local residents have seen their council tax double in the last decade, and when they’re paying so much, they will expect to see roads properly maintained.
”The council needs to start applying some common sense.”
Hertfordshire County Council claimed suspending painting the white lines until the holes were filled in was not ”cost-effective”.
A spokesman for Hertfordshire Highways, a department at Hertfordshire County Council, said: ”During the summer months we carry out extensive maintenance works to miles of white lines and occasionally incidents like this occur.
”When we carry out this work it can sometimes be the case – as with Bowling Green Lane – that the road surface isn’t in a pristine condition.
”Suspending the lining work – which is part of a much larger scheme – in order to make minor repairs is not always possible or cost-effective.”
