Mayor had to check road misspellings 'were not AI'

A mayor says she had to make sure misspelt road markings "were not AI" after errors were painted next to electric vehicle bays in two Forest of Dean towns.

Tasha Saunders, mayor of Lydney in Gloucestershire, said she asked a member of staff on their way to work to check whether the "electirc vehicles" marking on Templeway West was genuine on Thursday.

The mishap came days after Ray Donaghue, who represents Cinderford at Gloucestershire County Council, said he was left laughing after noticing "electric vehicels only" markings had popped up on Station Street in his town.

Both errors have now been rectified, which the county council said came at no cost to it as contractors were responsible.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Donaghue, a Reform UK councillor, said he reported the issue on Monday, adding: "It's one of those things and it's made us laugh.

"I've seen a 'Worchester' sign and 'no parkeng' before but I think 'electric vehicels only' is a new one.

"It made me think of the 'no regerts' tattoo phenomenon."

Donaghue said the contractors "sparked into action and were out like a flash" on Tuesday morning to repaint the markings.

Mark Harris, cabinet member for highways at Gloucestershire County Councillor, thanked Donaghue for making the mistake known.

"As soon as the error was realised, we contacted our contractors who fixed the issue on Tuesday morning."

But, on Thursday morning, Saunders said a resident made her aware of a similar mistake in Lydney, which she believed had not been there before.

"I believe they were done earlier in the week and, from what I can gather, they were originally correct," she said.

"It seems when the Cinderford mistake became apparent and they fixed that one, they must have come out to Lydney and altered the spelling there but actually made it wrong."

Saunders said she contacted the highways team at 08:30 BST, and by 10:00, contractors were working to return the markings to their original state.

"I must say it did make me laugh in the grand scheme of things," she said.

"Some things you just can't write, can you? Literally."

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