A ROAD marking has become the talk of the town after a council worker spelt Leigh wrong and plastered it on the street.

The embarrassing blunder, on Market Street in Atherton, was spotted by a business owner who saw the worker had written 'Liegh' on the road.

It wasn't until the man was told that the spelling was in fact wrong that he realised his mistake and went about fixing it — much to the amusement of passers-by.

Steven Darby, who owns the Flower Boutique on Market Street, took photographs of the spelling mistake.

He said: "I was watching him do it and I thought ''should I say something?' but it was just so funny.

"When he had finished it I walked over and said - 'you do know you have spelt it wrong?'

"And he just kind of looked at me like I was stupid so I said again, 'it's spelt wrong it's Leigh, not Liegh.

"He walked over to it and looked very confused and then started to fix it.

"It was just so funny, I knew it was a Facebook photo straight away."

The picture, which has been circulated around Facebook, has provoked many comments from residents who have berated Wigan Council for the mistake.

One post read: "Glad he didn't have to write a big word like "Tyldesley" while another said: 'This is the funniest thing I've seen in ages'.

The road marking, which was written this morning, has since been fixed.

Mark Tilley, assistant director for infrastructure at Wigan Council, said: “This road marking was made in error and was rectified within five minutes.”