Council contractors painted white line over horse manure

Kirklees Council contractors painted a white line over a pile of horse manure. Work crews moved onto Hopton Lane in Upper Hopton but failed to ensure the road surface was clean. The white lining machine was driven right over the manure leaving an even bigger mess on the road.

Mirfield Conservative councillor Martyn Bolt branded the work “careless” and said: “It’s almost beyond belief that someone could do this. They obviously didn’t check the road beforehand but surely that’s part of the job. When white lining is carried out we expect it to stay on the road for a long time not end up on someone’s rose bed.”



The council mess-up was highlighted by building contractor Shaun Maddox, who said: “It’s a waste of council taxpayers’ money and I couldn’t let it go unnoticed. I reported it to the council and they apologised blaming contractors and said that they were investigating. If no-one had flagged this up someone would have got away with shoddy workmanship and someone gets paid for a bad job.”

Mr Maddox, 43, who runs Dewsbury Developments in Thornhill, Dewsbury, said: “If any of my lads had done that they would be sacked. This is how contracts are lost and people are put out of work.” The council declined to elaborate on what went wrong but said it was due to be put right. A spokesman added: “The machine used by the contractors is a large one and the manure wasn’t spotted in time. This bit of road will be re-lined.”