Highway chiefs were left with faces the same colour as their Red Routes after realising they had banned funeral and wedding cars from stopping by a Solihull church.
And, following complaints by mourners and wedding parties at St James Church, Shirley, officials have now been forced to do a U-turn and scrub out the controversial double red lines.
The lines prohibit vehicles from stopping with those flouting the order getting on-the-spot fines.
The Red Route along the A34 Stratford Road through Shirley was launched last August in a bid to boost traffic flows between the M42 and Birmingham city centre. But it has come under fire from traders and residents as well as those using the church.
But after realising their gaffe, highway officials have replaced the double reds outside the church with traditional double yellows.
Bernard Price, chairman of Shirley Residents Association, welcomed the council's U-turn but said it should never have happened in the first place.
"We when saw that red lines had been put down in the service roads we were gobsmacked," he said.
"There's a layby for the funeral and wedding cars outside St James Church but the council had even put red lines in that. It was ludicrous."
Heather Shiels, spokeswoman for Solihull Council, said: "This was a pilot scheme and as a result of consultation we have decided to paint over the red lines with yellow ones."
