IT may have looked better than a trail of oil running through the town centre, but a sand slick proved just as baffling for shoppers.

The strange sight of a line of yellow sand a foot wide winding its way through the pedestrianised shopping area in the town centre of Ipswich went on for about half a mile, following the route of the vehicle which could have created the mess.

It stretched from the Vergo department store in Carr Street to the Superdrug shop in Westgate Street, crossing road junctions, rounding lampposts and going straight across the Cornhill.

It is believed to have been caused by one of the borough council’s street sweepers doing an early-morning clean-up yesterday, but the authority could not say for sure.

One market trader on the Cornhill 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 though it looks very odd and seems to go on forever.” A spokesman for Ipswich Borough Council said the slick was a bit of a mystery. “It probably was one of our vehicles but we cannot say for certain and it may have been a motorbike,” he said. “The good thing is that we were alert and reacted quickly after the mess was spotted and took action to put down sand so people would not step in it.”