A CONTRACTOR has admitted its "artistic skills" were not to up to scratch when it painted only half a bike on to an East Riding road.
Rather than neatly repainting the whole sign after a section of Hull Road, in Cottingham, was dug up for a cable to be replaced, workers roughly painted a set of wheels to denote a cycle lane.
It has left Balfour Beatty and Northern Powergrid, which asked the contractor to carry out the work, red-faced.
Celia Hitchman lives opposite the cycle lane.
She said: "It looks like someone has just come along and painted two Polo mints onto the road."
Her neighbour, Ken Baldwin, who is the former manager of Hull Business Improvement District (Bid), said: "I would have thought someone would have been along to inspect it.
"I smiled when I saw it. I just thought, 'typical!'"
Pet shop owner Rob Nicklas spotted the sign on his way to work in Hull.
He said: "I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"I'm really surprised they only painted half the cycle sign.
"I know paint is expensive these days, but it doesn't make any sense to paint half a sign.
"I was cycling to work in Hull when I spotted it. I couldn't believe it."
Dog walker Sue Wilkinson also saw the funny side, but thought it did not portray Cottingham in the best light.
She said: "If you're going to do a job, you should do it properly. It looked pretty amateurish."
A little further down the same road, the Mail spotted another example of dubious paintwork.
This time, only the letters "o" and "w" – to make the word "slow" – had been painted on a patch of road that had recently been resurfaced.
James Merrylees, external communications manager at Sheffield firm Balfour Beatty, said: "Unfortunately, our artistic skills do not seem to have met our usual high standards in this instance.
"These markings were put down as a temporary measure by our reinstatement team and have now been rectified. We are sorry for any confusion caused."
Balfour Beatty is working in the area, on behalf of Northern Powergrid, to replace and upgrade a major electricity cable.
A spokesman for East Riding Council said: "Following the completion of these major works by contractors working on behalf of Northern Powergrid, the council has become aware of a number of shortcomings in the quality of the work done, including the road markings in several locations.
"The council will be meeting with the contractors on site next week to discuss its concerns, and will be seeking a satisfactory solution to the problems, to be funded by Northern Powergrid."
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