Tiny new parking spaces have been ridiculed by bemused locals who say they are not even big enough for a “toddler’s bike”.
Residents in Borough Green, Kent, have branded the spaces as “hilarious” after pictures showed they failed to fit the width of a car.
Vehicles of all sizes are forced to straddle the white lines, which offer two hours of free parking.
It’s thought the lines were repainted on Monday, September 11. The faded lines – which are far wider – are still visible.
The local council has since admitted the new lines were “clearly a mistake” and said parking fines would be suspended until the issue was fixed.
Local residents Mary and Christopher Scott, who have lived on the road for around seven years, are both bewildered by the paint job.
“It’s quite ridiculous,” Mr Scott said. “I don’t know what they think the size of a car is. It was a waste of time and money. It happens all the time, doesn’t it? You can’t expect every single penny of taxpayers’ money to be spent wisely and judiciously. If they did come back and redo them, they’ll probably do it wrong again, anyway.”
Mrs Scott added: “You could fit a toddler’s bike on it – that’s about it. Nobody sent a letter through the door or anything, it just suddenly happened. The cars are still parking as normal.”
Some residents theorised that the short lines may be there to encourage drivers to mount the pavement, though no accompanying lines are visible on the pavement.
Kaine Sharp, who only moved to the area around five months ago, branded the bays “hilarious”. The 22-year-old said: “It’s a small bay, you can’t really fit much in it, but I assumed it was for the lack of space on the road. It’s quite hilarious. I have a van, so I park further down the road to prevent it from getting hit. I don’t really fancy any scratches on it.”
Another resident, Kitty Peploe, says when she first moved into the area around seven years ago, Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council decided to widen the pavement to make it safer for pedestrians.
She said: “They never adjusted the width of the parking bay, so it was always half the parking width. It didn’t really matter as much because the lines were quite faded, but now they have come back and gone over the original lines which makes it look a bit ridiculous. I can only assume the person that they hired was just told to go over the original lines and that is exactly what they did.
“Obviously they didn’t pay attention to the fact that the lines need updating.”
