You can't park that here! Shock as 4ft shark is discovered on double yellow lines in Welsh seaside town

Double yellow lines are not normally reserved for anything or anyone - except perhaps the odd rogue car, van or lorry.

However, people in Aberystwyth, Wales, which famously has no traffic wardens, were astounded to discover a dead shark washed up in their no-parking zone instead.



Bank worker Tom Huxley came out of a friend's house and was hit by they smell of rotting fish, but when he went to investigate he found the body of a 4ft blue shark lying inches from the road markings.



Park attack: The dead blue shark was found on double yellow lines outside the Gwesty Cymru hotel on 24 October. Experts say it was probably washed up following stormy weather

Mr Huxley, a former Aberystwyth University student, took a photo the fish outside the Gwesty Cymru hotel on 24 October.

It is not known how the shark came to end up on the road, but experts at Swansea University's Department of Bioscience believe it was washed up in recent stormy weather.

Mr Huxley, who works at NatWest, said: 'Ironically I had just been round at my mate's house and he was playing the Jaws theme tune on his guitar as I was leaving.

Dead: Dr Ian Horsfall, from Swansea University's Department of Bioscience, said this type of shark is not uncommon in the Irish Sea during the summer

'Seven of us went out of the house next door to Gwesty Cymru and I said something stinks of fish, so we walked a bit further along and my girlfriend nonchalantly said 'oh, that's why!'

'I saw this shark lying in the road on double yellow lines - it was about a metre and a half long. My first thought was that of panic to be honest. We weren't sure if it was alive.

'I just couldn't believe this huge shark had got onto the other side of the road.'



The town hit the headlines in June when it laid off its last remaining traffic wardens.



The three employees covering the town and the rest of Ceredigion county were laid off due to budget cuts.

Since the start of June, the town’s 16,000 residents and thousands of tourists are effectively able to park where they like.



At least one punch-up was reported in the first few weeks as two motorists tried to squeeze past one another while illegally-parked cars half-blocked a busy street.



The shark is the second in less than a week to have been found dead after a group of friends from Machynlleth spotted a smaller blue shark washed up in the town's harbour.

A member of staff at Gwesty Cymru said they were not aware of the shark outside the premises.

Dr Ian Horsfall, from Swansea University's Department of Bioscience, said the shark, which is not uncommon in the Irish Sea during the summer, could have been washed up during recent stormy weather.



He added: 'It's another blue shark. Without having a closer look at the sharks it would be difficult to ascertain how they died or if the two sharks turning up are in any way linked or in some way unusual.'