AN unofficial parking bay which mysteriously appeared in a Darlington street is to be painted out by the borough council.

The bay, which has clearly been painted in by hand, is outside a house in Selbourne Terrace, a street where there are already several authorised bays for residents.

Businessman Nigel Dowson, who regularly drives down the street, first noticed the markings last week.

He said: "I was just coming to work one morning when I saw these lines. Originally they were yellow and now somebody has gone over them in white."

He went on: "There used to be lots of free parking around there, but now there are these residents' bays and they are empty all day. You are lucky if you get one or two cars parking there."

The family living in the house said they had not painted the bay.

A Darlington council spokesman said the authority's staff had not painted the bay and it would be removed within the next few days.

He said: "We went out and had a look and we saw that there were lines there.

"The man who lives in the house they are outside did not put them there, we are sure of that. We don't know how they got there."