SWINDON is home to one of the country’s most spectacular road structures in the Magic Roundabout. But it is now also home to some of the daftest road markings.

Council workers have taken parking restrictions in the town to a new extreme by painting double yellow lines down an alleyway which measures just 1.4 metres wide.

Despite barely being wide enough for two people to walk down side-by-side, the narrow walkway has had the lines painted down both sides, just in case drivers were unsure on whether they could park there.

The alley, which runs between the top of Newhall Street and Stanier Street near the town centre, was painted last week when other roads in the area were having double yellows put down.

It would appear that the workmen putting the lines down were following their instructions to the letter and didn’t feel drivers would not try to park there.

“It’s one of the stupidest things I’ve ever seen,” said Ray Mudhar, the owner of nearby garage Ray’s Autos.

“When me and my mate saw it we were just laughing our heads off. It’s a waste of time, waste of money and waste of material.

“The only thing you could get down there would be a bike and no-one is going to leave a bike parked up there.

“They have painted down all the alleys around here. I can see why, because emergency vehicles need to get through and there is no room if there are parked cars.

“This is ridiculous though.”

Residents in the area have also expressed their surprise at the decision to put parking restrictions down the small alleyway.

Majorie Watts, 86, said: “It’s good that they’ve painted some of the roads but they’ve missed some of the ones that are important.

“The through road opposite is a real problem but they haven’t touched that. Instead they’ve put double yellows where you can’t even get a car.”

Mrs Watts, who has lived in the area since 1938, described it as one of the silliest things she had ever seen.

“I’m getting fed up with it, to be honest. It’s just another waste of time and money,” she said.

A Swindon Council spokesman said: “Local residents have asked us to deal with illegal parking in alleyways, but it seems that our contractors forgot just how big cars actually are when they painted this one.

“We will be taking it up with them.”