A man who repainted a fading white ‘no parking’ line outside his home has been billed £150 by his ungrateful council.
David Tamplin thought he was saving his local authority a bit of money when he touched up the 40ft (12 metre) line in front of his house.
He had just painted his property and thought the line looked shabby – and bought a £45 pot of industrial-standard paint specially to do the job.
But petty officials at Brighton and Hove City Council have seen red over his handiwork.
They’ve sent David a letter saying they will have to burn off the line and do it all again because he didn’t ask for permission.
And they have told him he will have to pay £10 per metre for it to be replaced, plus £30 for each of the end markings.
Furious David, a property landlord of Hangleton, Hove, reckons his total bill with VAT could run up to £150.
He said: “It’s so petty. If I had done something really wrong then I could understand it.
“I was originally going to do it in white gloss but I thought I’d better not as you never know what could happen.
“It looks like any other white line in the road, you can’t tell the difference.”
David said he only repainted the fading 10 year-old line because it looked untidy in front of his cul-de-sac home which he had spent six months revamping.
He added: “If I’d done a bad job or extended the line or changed it in anyway I could understand but I haven’t – I painted exactly over the same lines.
“I’ve simply saved them a job.”
Hove Tory MP Mike Weatherley said: “If the line is the right shape and colour then leave it as it is.
“When the council’s road marking to-do-list is already so long, this simply is not worth council time or effort.”
The council admitted the issue sounded trivial but said they were responding to a complaint from a neighbour.
They also claimed David had removed a section of kerb from outside his house.
A spokeswoman said: “We are waiting for a response from the resident who is alleged to have painted a white line and removed a section of the kerb outside their property.
“The issue of the white line on face-value sounds trivial but we do have a duty to investigate all reasonable complaints put to us for which we have responsibility.
“The white line the resident has painted across their driveway wasn’t applied for and was marked out incorrectly and illegally.
“Nearby neighbours in the cul-de-sac have expressed concern that the unauthorised works are causing parking problems and this is the context of the issue.”
