Contractors sprucing up North Promenade took an astonishing short cut when they came across the abandoned footwear tied to a railing.
Rather than remove it - they painted OVER it!

The lazy workers were today blasted by council bosses who described the gaff as an "embarrassing mistake".

Resort visitors and fellow decorating firms labelled it "the laziest thing we've ever seen".

>> Council name silver sock contractors

Julian Kearsley, Blackpool Council's executive director of business services, said: "We contracted a local company to carry out this work and we're obviously hugely disappointed with this act of laziness.

"We have contacted the company who will be removing the sock and painting the railings correctly, like they should have done in the first place.

"Residents can be assured we will be taking action to ensure embarrassing mistakes like this don't occur again in the future."

The council declined to name the contractors used to paint the railings - situated 150 yards from the Hilton hotel - but Kay Martin who owns the nearby Rutland Hotel said the painted sock had become a major talking point.

She said: "It looks so funny painted silver - a lot of the guests have been asking me whether it is part of this year's illuminations display!

"My customers often cross the road to look out to sea and stand at those railings. I wondered what on earth they were talking about when they asked if I'd seen 'the sock'.

"It's amazing someone would go to the trouble of painting it silver, surely removing it would actually have been quicker?

"No-one can believe anybody could be that lazy."

The railings were painted as part of the council's ongoing plan to clean up Blackpool. Although the offending sock has now been removed, a tell-tale band of unpainted railing marks the spot where it was placed.

Passerby Andrew Purcell, 22, from Leyland who is working in the area, said: "I think painting round a sock instead of just moving it could quite possibly be the laziest thing I've ever seen.

"It does look quite funny tied there, but I suppose it must be annoying for the council if they are trying to improve the look of Blackpool."

Derek Burleigh, a contracts manager from BTS Decorating Ltd on Palatine Road, Blackpool said he thought the workmanship of the council contractor was "disgraceful".

He said: "It just shows the mentality of some of these firms - they can't be professionals if that's their attitude.

"We get a lot of big contracts and I always inspect our work. If we employed anybody who painted over something like this then they wouldn't work for us again.

"We take a real sense of pride in delivering a high standard - it's just a shame this company don't."