A MOTORIST has been driven round the bend by her local council after it finally offered her a parking space - five miles away from her home.

Mary Watkin has been on the waiting list for a garage in Morpeth, Northumberland, for 27 years, and is furious after eventually being offered one in another town.

The 72-year-old and her husband Tom were offered a place in Pegswood.

She said: "If I wait any longer for a garage I'll be parking my coffin in it."

But housing services manager Pat Ledger said there was a shortage of available parking space in the area and garages were like "gold dust".

But she added: "We understand that Mrs Watkin would not be satisfied with the garage in Pegswood but that is all we can offer her. By offering her a garage in Pegswood that is the only way we can show her it is the only one we have got."

Furious Mrs Watkin, who first applied for a garage in 1975 when the council painted double yellow lines outside her home, said: "It is absolutely absurd."