Complaints were flowing as freely as the asphalt that was slopped across foliage and metal drainage grates when a road was recently resurfaced.

Cutmore Drive residents in Colney Heath were left disappointed by the poor standard of work when their street was finally resurfaced after months of delay.

St Albans district councillor for Colney Heath Chris Brazier said: “I had loads of complaints because it looked terrible.”

Cllr Brazier asked Herts county council to rectify the mess as he feared the resurfacing would not last more than a year.

Ruts from tyres can be seen clearly on the street while elsewhere, parts of the road were missed during the work. Yet asphalt was sprayed across plants and metal drainage grates.

A spokesman for the county council said that after inspecting the resurfacing, it was agreed there was a need for “some remedial work”.

However, the council blames passing traffic for leaving visible tyre tracks with the spokesman saying: “We believe that the most affected area may have been damaged by vehicle traffic in the early life of the road surface. Our contractor will return and repair this area.

“We do try to avoid cutting back vegetation from private property which intrudes on to the roadway but this does present problems when resurfacing. When we return we will trim the vegetation and patch repair the area underneath it.”

The remedial work has yet to be carried out.