MYSTERIOUS double yellow lines painted by a phantom resident in a Suffolk village may have to be removed after a council ruled they were unauthorised.

The parking restrictions appeared overnight at a dangerous junction in Elmswell after a concerned resident took it upon themselves to tackle a parking problem.

Peter Dow, clerk of Elmswell Parish Council, said: “The lines appeared on a corner which is incredibly busy and narrow where there had been some rather thoughtless parking.

“They are beautiful yellow lines, very straight.

“It is a very good installation.”

The illegal markings at the junction of Jubilee Terrace and Thedwastre Close only came to light around six weeks ago when the parish council applied to create a disabled parking bay on the same side of the street.

Now they are in place, parish councillors are keen to allow the lines to stay but county council chiefs say they will be removed as soon as possible.

“We want to leave them there because it is working,” Mr Dow said.

“It was obviously someone who was an immediate neighbour on the street who was suffering.

“Everyone is happy but, unfortunately, the powers at be don’t like it.”

The parish council is staying tight-lipped over the identity of the rogue resident, but Mr Dow said it was someone who believed in the ‘big society’.

The mysterious installation has saved the council �1,500 which it would have had to pay for a traffic order to officially introduce the parking restriction.

But county council chiefs are insisting the markings are removed.

“Everyone is just hoping the authority just goes away,” Mr Dow said. “Councillors are supportive of the yellow lines.

“It would never have come to light if it hadn’t co-incided with an initiative on our part to have a disabled parking bay on the same side of the road.

“From a parish council point of view, we can’t have people saying they are going to put in double yellow lines but, in this instance, it looks as though it makes good sense.”

But it seems the game is up for the daring artist as the county council plan to burn the double yellow lines off the road.

A spokeswoman for the county council issued a firm warning to other potential painters, saying: “Double yellow lines require a Traffic Regulation Order to make them enforceable.

“Members of the community should not attempt to prohibit parking on the public highway.

“The lines will be removed as soon as possible.”