by Dan Bloom

dbloom@thekmgroup.co.uk

A couple couldn't believe their eyes when a council worker covered up some graffiti in their road - with a spray-painted steam train and the words "Santa is coming, so be good!"

Neighbourhood watch co-ordinator Nigel Crick, 50, of Cherry Gardens, Littlestone, had first called Kent County Council when he saw obscene black lettering scrawled across his street.

But he was stunned when an officer duly attended last week and painted the surreal image.

It was his wife Jenny, 44, who opened the door to the imaginative officer, but she dismissed the image he was showing her on his camera as a joke.

The incredulous couple only twigged when they next walked down the road.

Mrs Crick, who has a three-year-old daughter, Amelie, said: "He told me, 'I've covered it up and drawn a train', and I said 'Ha ha, very funny.'

"He was hysterical the whole time he was talking to me. He said they couldn't wash it off straight away, so they had done this and it would wear off within three or four months.

"I thought he was joking and sent him on his way. We were astonished when we saw it."

The couple, who live yards from the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway station in New Romney, decided to call the council to have the graffiti removed - again.

It was cleaned up on Monday.

Mr Crick said: "The same image actually appeared twice, as there was another piece of graffiti in Warren Road, round the corner.

"It looks awful. It looks as if a child did it and it's totally unacceptable. What on earth were they thinking?"

Kent County Council made no comment other than to say: "Shepway District Council has removed the markings in Warren Road and Cherry Gardens with its graffiti-busting jet washer."