LONDON (Reuters) - A hapless British motorist was given a parking ticket after council workmen painted double yellow lines either side of his parked car. 

Workmen painted the no-parking lines after the road was resurfaced. 

"It is normal policy to paint either side of parked vehicles and to come back later and fill in any gaps," a city official in Stoke-on-Trent, central England, told Reuters on Wednesday. 

"But it is not normal practice for traffic wardens to issue a ticket. It was a bit of a silly thing to do," he said. 

The fine has now been canceled and an apology issued instead. 

Last month a traffic warden in Manchester surprised passengers when he issued a parking ticket to a bus when it halted at a bus stop.