Careless council contractors failed to mind their language at the weekend as two spelling errors appeared on a road sign in Worcester Park.

Literate Lindsay Road residents were left struggling to decipher the message: “Due to mechanical failer your road will be reserviced at a later date.”

Peter Sharpe, who took a photograph of the offending sign on Saturday, said: “Quality people we have working for us, don’t you think?”

This week Sutton Council fell short of apologising for the public illiteracy, despite the poor example it may have set to schoolchildren.

A spokesman said: “This sign was put up by our contractor as soon as they realised they would be unable to carry out the planned work.

“The contractor wanted to give residents as much warning as possible due to the inconvenience that suspended parking causes.

“While the spelling mistakes are unfortunate, the immediate priority was to let people in the area know what was happening.”

The council sent follow-up letters explaining the situation to each householder, but no mention was made of the embarrassing misspellings.

Local people had previously complained about the expense of resurfacing work when Lindsay Road appeared to be in an excellent condition.

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