YOU couldn't make it up. The yellow lines controversy in York's Davygate took a bizarre new twist today when it emerged the contractors painting them made a series of farcical blunders.

The catalogue of comedy-style cock-ups included:

The piece of paper instructing them what to do is reported to have blown out of the window of their van

They then painted the lines in white, thinking they were meant to be creating parking bays

Then, after removing all but a faint trace of the white lines, they painted double yellow lines in the right place...but in too garish a shade of yellow.

The contractors were told to come back and paint them all in the correct, primrose shade of yellow, which is considered to be a more sensitive colour in a conservation area.

The errors came to light after a member of York Civic Trust rang City of York Council to complain about the lines, which have been painted to make it absolutely clear to drivers that they cannot park at any time in Davygate. The move came after a motorist booked for parking there on an evening won an appeal to the National Parking Adjudication Service.

He apparently complained that the old lines on the kerbside were confusing, and that he thought he could park inside them on what appeared to be paved parking bays.

But pedestrians last week criticised the "shoddy" new paint work and said the council should create official evening parking bays instead.

The civic trust member, who did not wish to be identified, said he had heard a number of critical comments from tourists about the yellow lines, which they felt were totally inappropriate in such an historic city centre.

He said he was amazed when he rang the council and was told about the series of blunders in painting the lines. A City of York Council spokeswoman said today that a series of errors had been made by external painting contractors, who the council declined to name.

"Although the reason for their confusion is not known, these errors have been put right, at the expense of the external contractors."

Updated: 09:42 Thursday, February 16, 2006