COUNCIL officers have been left red faced – after they “forgot” to check that residents hit by a road closure could use a school car park.

Residents have been banned from parking along The Mall this week, while borough contractors carry out road improvement works.

They were told in a letter sent earlier this month that “arrangements have been made for you to park at Commonweal School through the day”.

However, when people attempted to park at Commonweal earlier today they found it full – used by those attending a dance festival being held at the Old Town school.

In a statement posted on Facebook, Commonweal said: “The school is now aware of works being undertaken by the council on The Mall. The school was not aware until this morning, even though we believe local residents had a letter from the council stating they could use the school’s car park.

“We apologise for any inconvenience this has caused our local community.”

Swindon Borough Council admitted the mistake. Apologising for the error, a spokesman said: “Unfortunately, in our eagerness to get everything ready for this project we forgot to contact the school to check that it would be okay for residents to use the car park.

“We would like to apologise to residents and the school for the mix-up.

“On a positive note, our contractors are making excellent progress and there is a chance the work could be finished by Wednesday, ahead of schedule.”

Residents told the Adver that they had been largely unaffected by the parking mix-up, as many homes along The Mall have off-street car parking.