Graffiti volunteers paint over a Banksy

An artwork attributed to the Bristol street artist Banksy was mistakenly painted over by volunteers cleaning up graffiti. The political piece in Glastonbury, said to be worth £5,000, was painted on a wall two years ago and shows an image of Paddington Bear captioned "Migration is not a crime".

But well-meaning volunteers covered over the precious image as part of the town council's drive to rid the area of graffiti, the authority admitted.

Julian Chatt, who owns the wall, claimed he had struck a deal to sell the piece for around £5,000 before disaster struck. He said: "I'd spoken to the town council in the past and asked them not to paint over the artwork. Sure enough, the last few times the council have been out they didn't paint it over.



"But on Saturday morning, I came out of my house there was this chemical smell and when I turned the corner Paddington was gone."

No one had asked him for permission to paint the wall, he said, adding that his insurance company is examining whether the painting is covered. He said he had also reported it to police.

Glastonbury Town Council said today the image was just one of several in the region said to be by Banksy, but accepted the picture had painted over "in error". A spokeswoman said today: "If we made a mistake we'll hold our hands up and say sorry. He's been advised he can make a claim against the council, which he hasn't done yet."