BUNGLING council workers tried to remove a disabled parking bay outside the home of a woman crippled by arthritis after mixing up two streets with the same name.

John Billing had to run outside and stop the men from burning the painted lines off the tarmac despite his wife Linda's car being parked within them in Shakespeare Road, Hanwell.

The workmen apologised and left on March 26 but just three days later more were back to chisel the disabled sign off the wall.

Mr Billing, 68, said: "If they'd started burning the paint marks off they would've burst the tyres.

"They saw sense and said they'd been getting a lot of people complaining that bays were still in use.

"Then a few days later these other guys came and instead of using a a screwdriver they used a hammer and chisel to chop it off the wall, the sign was all bent and twisted, it was complete madness.

"The men said it was nothing to do with them, that they had this big list given to them to show them where to go, it was like War and Peace, it must've had about 150 names in it.

"The car is clearly registered disabled, don't they check to make sure they are not still in use? If someone happens to be out do they come back to find their disabled bay has been burned off the road?"

To add insult to injury Mrs Billing, 67, was given a ticket for parking in her own bay a few weeks before.

Mr Billing added: "My wife had taken her blue badge with her when she went to hospital in a friends car so they could park close to the entrance.

"It clearly says she is disabled on her tax disc and the car is registered to our home but she still got a fine. I said I would make a copy so it wouldn't happen again but I'm not allowed to do that either."

Ealing North MP Steve Pound, who lives nearby, took up their case and discovered the bay was scheduled for removal after bureaucrats mixed up Shakespeare Road in Hanwell with Shakespeare Road in Acton.

Mr Pound said: "I thought that it was April 1st when I heard about this and as a resident of Poets Corner, Hanwell, I am now in dread of a cack-handed council confusing more of us with Acton."

A council spokeswoman said: "They immediately stopped work when they were approached by the resident and we've written to the resident to apologise for the error.

"Blue badge holders are reminded that they must always display their badge in a disabled bay. Although a tax disc may confirm the driver is disabled it must be accompanied by the badge."