MORE taxpayer’s money will be spent on resurfacing a town centre road after a driver failed to remove their car in time.
Darlington residents in and around Huntley Street, off Hargreaves Terrace, were warned of the works more than two weeks before they were carried out by the council.
Yet when workers turned up on Monday they found one car still in place. Efforts to contact the driver proved unsuccessful and the workers decided against towing the car and instead resurfaced the road around the black BMW.
In fact, after an investigation, the council found it had no powers to remove the vehicle due to it being parked in an area without parking restrictions.
It means the road has been resurfaced with fresh new tarmac and white and yellow lines save for the one spot where the car has sat unmoved.
The road reopened on Tuesday and cars have returned, yet the BMW remains unmoved.
Road you believe it 🙈 pic.twitter.com/5NdTe9GDOH
— PAUL KINGSTON (@PaulKingstonITV) May 10, 2022
Council workers will have to revisit the site to complete the full resurfacing at a later date but will cost the council extra money.
A Darlington Council spokeswoman said: “As the vehicle in question has been left in an area without parking restrictions, we’re not able to take action against the driver on this occasion.
“Attempts have been made to contact the owner to ask them to remove it but so far without success.
“This does mean that the road resurfacing has been carried out around the vehicle, leaving a patch behind – this will be dealt with at a later date when the car is finally removed, but it will mean an extra cost to the council and the patch will be visible.
“Signage advising of planned maintenance works is put up in good time with the aim of avoiding situations like this.”
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