EAST Lothian Council spent £14,000 covering up double yellow lines painted by accident on a road as it prepared to launch coastal car park charges.

The council’s transport boss Ray Montgomery admitted that 1.5km of double yellow lines were painted in error between Whitesands and Barns Ness.

And in an email response to a query about the mistake, Mr Montgomery revealed that, while it cost £2,600 to paint the lines on the road, it cost a further £14,000 to surface over them.

This week, East Lothian Council insisted the money was not a waste, as the road had been due for resurfacing in the future.

But the incident was branded “utter nonsense” by an opponent of the coastal car park charges.

The error over the road markings came after the council received an objection to a Traffic Regulation Order calling for parking restrictions on roads around the car parks.

Officials agreed not to put the markings down on a stretch of the Barns Ness Road and the objection was removed.

However, Mr Montgomery said the road was not removed from the list as it should have been.

In an email explaining the error, he said: “When the works order for the coastal car parking sites was passed to the lining contractor, this road had not been removed from the list and the error occurred.

“The surface dressing contractors were also completing their programme in East Lothian at the time and, rather than overpainting or burning off the lines, neither of which are particularly successful over such a long length, the decision was taken to surface dress the road.” Mr Montgomery confirmed the road surface which was treated was “in good condition” but said about a third was an old bitmac surface.

He added: “It would not normally have been considered for treatment at this time; however, in doing so it will add to the overall life of the surface.” Mr Montgomery said discussions with his staff would be held to prevent any errors of this type happening again.

A council spokesperson insisted the road would have been resurfaced at some point.

He said: “This was a communication error with our contractor, as the road was initially on the list but was later removed.

“To resolve this issue as quickly as possible, the decision was taken to utilise our existing contractor, who was in East Lothian at the time, and surface dress the road. “We would have looked to undertake this treatment to this road at a later stage and by doing so now it provides added protection which will extend the design life of this road.” Meanwhile, the council says more than 200 people have applied for season passes for the 10 car parks which will be charging.

The car parks – Yellowcraig, Gullane Bents, Longniddry Bents (three locations), Whitesands, Barns Ness and John Muir Country Park’s Tyninghame Links, Shore Road and Linkfield – will charge £2 a day, with a pass £40 a year.

Council SNP opposition leader Councillor Stuart Currie has launched a petition calling for the charges to be abolished, which has more than 1,160 signatures in its first week online.

He said: “With every week that passes the utter nonsense surrounding these charges grows. Our stunning coastal roads are being blighted by double yellow lines because of parking charges.

“There are lots of roads in East Lothian that need resurfaced and it seems like the best way to achieve that is for lines to be painted by mistake. You just couldn’t make this stuff up.”