Confused council workers painted new double yellow lines in a residential street instead of extending parking bays in a bizarre misunderstanding.

Residents in Victoria Street, Gilllingham were delighted when a sign appeared on a lampost stating their road had been selected to have part of its double yellow lines removed.

A notice outlined the lines were to be replaced with an 8.3m extension to the existing parking bays – creating space for two more cars.

But the plans to increase parking in the busy residential street went awry when council workers misunderstood the remit.

When excited residents returned home on Friday they discovered rather than having two extra spaces to park their cars they now had some shiny new double yellow lines where the fading ones used to be.

A spokesman for Medway Council has since explained the mix-up.

“A number of roads in the area have been selected to have new double yellow lines painted in a bid to help traffic flow. So council workers have been out doing this.

“Unfortunately in this case the workers added them in a road where they were supposed to be extending the parking bays instead.”

She added: “The misunderstanding was rectified very quickly, within a couple of days.”