Black mark for workmen over school lines outside Shropshire house
They were asked to paint no parking signs outside a Shropshire village school. And the workmen believed they had done a great job – until they realised they had carried out the work outside the wrong building.
The yellow zig -zag lines were placed outside a former primary school that has not heard the sound of children's voices for 13 years.
The blunder came about in the small Shropshire village of Ruyton XI Towns, near Shrewsbury.
The gang were sent to draw up the safety markings outside St John the Baptist Primary School on Church Street.
But they instead descended on the former village school in Grug Hill, half a mile away and which closed in 2001.
Michael Curley, 68, lives next door to the old school and shares a driveway with the property, which is now a home.
He said he had seen the workmen painting white lines on the road but never imagined they would re-mark the old faded school signs.
"I thought they're completely bonkers when I saw it," he said.
"I saw the chap painting the white line but didn't see the other work being done. I think they were probably just doing what they were told and didn't think about it, but there's a sign next door saying 'The Old School'.
"There were old school markings there but they were very faded. They've repainted over those.
"I've lived here eight years and it had stopped being a school before I moved in. It must have been a proper tiny village school. The new school was built when the new estate was put in."
Councillor Colin Case, chairman of the parish council and a governor at the village school, said the workmanship couldn't be faulted – but the geography left something to be desired.
He said: "They are beautifully painted, a cracking job, just 400 yards in the wrong place.
"I suspect the poor lady who lives in the old school now isn't as amused though."
Councillor Case, who is also a governor at the village primary school, said the work had not been arranged by the school.
He said: "The school don't seem to have any knowledge of the work. It's such a shame but these things do happen, particularly if you use subcontractors that don't know the area that well.
"But the new school isn't really that new any more. It's been there for 10 years so anyone local would know where it is."
