Council road markings contractors: they can never get it right, can they? If they haven’t
lifted up a car to paint double yellows beneath it, they’ve
written “school” as “shool” or
painted over the mangled corpse of a hedgehog.
The papers love these stories – and readers love to get hot under the collar over a public display of stupidity, especially when it relates to the spending of taxpayers’ money. When reporters approach the councils for comment they are usually fobbed off with: “It was a contractor error and has now been rectified.”
But it was refreshing to see
Hartlepool Borough Council defend its supplier in the hedgehog case. “Contractors have done a phenomenal amount of line painting in and around the town in preparation for the Tall Ships Races,” said a spokeswoman. “They have done an exceptional job. This is obviously an unfortunate incident, but it was the only one reported during the massive project.”
Hartlepool council have obviously been doing a bit of work on its supplier relations, and I bet the contractor appreciated being stood up for. Good on 'em, I say.