A blunder which saw a town’s name emblazoned incorrectly on a road surface has left residents scratching their heads.

National Highway workers erroneously marked the busy Castle Hill Interchange with directions to ‘Foulkestone’ rather than Folkestone.

The authority, which is thought to have laid down the markings to the ‘M20 Foulk’e’ overnight on Saturday, has today apologised for the mishap.

But many well-humoured residents have poked fun at the authority, with some motorists admitting the gaffe created a surprising distraction.

Having noticed the error while driving yesterday, Rebecca Gadsden, who lives in the town, said: “Honestly, thought it was funny - someone clearly had a bad day.

“I did think ‘Surely someone would check spelling before doing something so public’.

“We all have spelling issues sometimes, that one is just unfortunately on a public highway.

“I sent a message to all my friends saying we were now foul dwellers!”

National Highways has apologised for the miss-spelling and has said it will be rectified “as soon as possible”.

On Facebook, locals have been criticising the “horrendous” mistake, and coming up with foul-related puns.

Dan McCarthy said: “They had one job”, while Jon Turbutt added: “I saw it this morning and had to do a double take.”

Dave Camilletti commented: “For heaven's sake, what incompetence.”

Mat Mackenzie joked: “Foulk’in Hell”, and Chris Buck said: “Foul bit of spelling”.

The lanes approaching the roundabout have also recently been reduced from three to two, with some drivers finding the new system confusing and prone to congestion.

Meggy Lea commented: “I still don’t understand why they’ve reduced it to two lanes.

“So many people keep using it as three still.”

Harriet Pryor added: “Three lanes made so much more sense here.

“Maybe it was an accident they put it down to two - just like this horrendous spelling mistake.”

It’s not the first time a road marking blunder has sparked a big reaction.

In Ashford, a large sign was branded an “embarrassment” after it called the borough of Newtown ‘Newton’.

A National Highways spokesman said: “We would like to apologise for the spelling mistake and are working with our contractors to correct the name as soon as possible.

“As well as improving the road surface and refreshing the road markings around the junction, we have reduced the number of lanes on the approach to improve safety as there are only two lanes on the roundabout.”