COUNCIL bosses were left red-faced after it emerged that a trail of oil left through Ipswich town centre was caused by a mechanical street sweeper.

Shoppers have been dodging a sand trail that appeared in the town centre on Sunday morning, after the roads were supposedly cleaned.

One of the council’s street sweepers caused the unsightly mess after a pipe split and spilt oil through the town’s pedestrianised area.

For half a mile the vehicle, which had embarked on an early-morning clean-up, snaked its way along the front of shops leaving a trail of oil in its tracks.

Council officials reacted quickly and found sand to cover the trail, hoping the oil would be absorbed. The sandy strip stretches from the Vergo department store in Carr Street to the Superdrug shop in Westgate street.

A spokeswoman for Ipswich Borough Council said the spillage had been caused by a split pipe.

She said: “A pipe split on one of our mechanical street sweepers and caused the oil to spill on the street.

“We put the sand down to ensure that the area was safe. The sand is also there to soak up and absorb the spilt oil. The sand will remain there until either Wednesday or Thursday. Once the sand has absorbed all of the oil the area will be cleaned up.”

One market trader said: “I am not sure how much oil there was but there is an awful lot of sand to cover it.

“It hasn’t affected us at all but it looks very odd and seems to go on forever.”