THIS WEEK IN 1976: Fury as cycle lanes go up in smoke

It was a black day for Westfield Road residents when Portsmouth City Council set about erasing markings on the controversial cycle routes.

The machine used by council workmen to burn off the unwanted white road markings let out clouds of black smoke.

John Walsh, of number 127 said: ‘I’ve never seen anything like it. People have had to clean down the front of their houses. We had no warning they were coming.’

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He added: ‘There was grit flying all over the place. A child of 10 could have pointed out that the obvious thing to do was to paint over the white markings with black paint.’

The chairman of the Portsmouth transportation committee, George Byng said: ‘People moaned about the cycleways – now they moan when we take them away.’