Botched Plymouth cycle lane paint job ‘looks like an alien’

Plymouth City Council has admitted a combined footpath and cycle path ‘doesn’t look good’ after a road marking of a pedestrian was likened to a ‘space alien’. The markings are believed to have been finished as early as 2021 but many have just begun poking fun at the ‘out of this world’ paint job.

It was first spotted by John Stickland, a member of Plymouth Street Scenes. John uploaded a photo of the footpath to the Facebook page where he joked ‘Derriford seems to cater for space aliens’.

The markings are located on Runway Road, just off Tavistock Road. In John’s post, he said: “In this age of inclusivity, it’s heartening to see the combined footpath and cycle path on Runway Road, Derriford seems to cater for space aliens. Out of this world…”

Speaking to PlymouthLive, John said he suspected the original pedestrian had been ‘redone’ by a fibre optic cable laying ‘gang’.

A spokesperson for Plymouth City Council agreed John had a point, going on to say: “It’s not the most artistic likeness of a human or a bike.” They also confirmed they had since been in contact with the utility company responsible and they had agreed to revisit the site.

In a statement, Plymouth City Council said: “Your reader has a point. It’s not the most artistic likeness of a human or a bike but it seems it has sat there unnoticed for quite some time.

“We are checking our records and think this may have been there for some time – possibly back to 2021. When utility companies dig up pavements we ask them to replace like for like on road markings.

“We agree it doesn’t look good and have raised this with the company responsible who have agreed to revisit this.”