Hardly middle of the road

 A road just north of Leigh Park

Petersfield's Pulens Lane, despite being resurfaced, is still without road markings.

The road is used pretty much as a dual-carriageway by traffic travelling between Chichester and the A3 north of Petersfield.

At times the traffic on Pulens Lane can be quite heavy with motorcycles and white vans overtaking in both directions.

Without road markings the drivers could arguably be excused for thinking the road is indeed a dual-carriageway, whereas the speed limit is actually only 30mph.

Doug Gonnit, speaking on behalf of Hampshire County Council, defended the position. He said: "We will be painting lines on the road, but at present we have nobody qualified to carry out the task.

"Earlier this year we were forced to lay off Lionel de Rhodes; he was our expert and had applied the white paint for the last 25 years.

"We thought this would be a low-impact cut, saving money for the department, but we have since discovered that his was a very skilled and important role.

"One of de Rhodes' main tasks used to be ensuring the double yellow lines around town were kept well painted, but since these are no longer used we thought we could do without him."

Newswire has acquired a photo of the training area where de Rhodes’ successor is being put through his paces (see above) and it looks like it could be sometime before he is allowed out and about in Petersfield.