Bungling council workers paint bus stop markings on road they DON’T go down
Boob baffles residents who asked "is the Harry Potter night bus going to be stopping here?"
A BLUNDERING council has admitted a bus stop boob which left residents baffled after markings appeared outside their homes - despite NO buses using the road.
Contractors painted white lines and bright yellow bus stop boxes on Stotfold Road in Hitchin, Herts, for absolutely no reason.
The work left confused locals and many even questioned if the Harry Potter Knight Bus was due to start doing the rounds.
Terence Corcoran, 66, who lives on the road, said: "Recently the local council highways department decided to white line Stotfold Road, also at this time they decided to paint bus stop markings on either side of the road.
"The only problem is that the bus service in Stotfold Road was withdrawn quite some years ago - the bus stop signs were taken down at the same time.
"Is the Harry Potter night bus going to be stopping here?
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The purple triple-decker Knight Bus in Harry Potter is invisible to muggles - ordinary humans - and appears whenever a witch or wizard is in urgent need of transportation.
However any hopes that the phantom bus service may appear on the roads have been dashed as Hertfordshire County Council confirmed it was just a blunder.
It emerged a bus stop was once in use on the road, and contractors had painted over old faded lines which could barely be seen.
The council has been improving the county's roads over the summer by cleaning dirty signs, cutting back overgrown vegetation, and repainting faded road markings.
The contractor have now been told they will have to foot the bill at the cost of a "couple of hundred quid".
A spokeswoman for Hertfordshire County Council said: "The bus stop markings in Stotfold Road were repainted in error and will be removed at no additional cost to the taxpayer.
"What happened was the contractors were working there resurfacing the road and as part of that they have to reinstate all lines that are there.
"It should have been pointed out to them that not all lines needed to be reinstated.
"We apologise for any inconvenience this might have caused."