Rude graffiti sprayed at pothole on A835 in Ullapool Published duration 5 August 2015

image caption The graffiti appeared recently next to the pothole on the A835

A council has said graffiti should not be used as a means of alerting it to potholes after a phrase with strong language was sprayed next to a hole.

The graffiti has appeared on the A835 in Ullapool at a pothole that has been in the road for at least the past week.

The hole is about half a mile from a Highland Council yard.

The local authority said people should not be painting graffiti on roads and to report potholes via its website or calling its service centre.

image caption The council has now painted out the graffiti but not repaired the pothole

A spokesman for Highland Council said: "Community services will inspect roads in that locality and repair any potholes that present a hazard, ideally filling all if that can be afforded.

"The team in Ullapool will try to erase the graffiti. They are limited to non-destructive means unless there is a structural reason to patch a wider area as a repair.

"Any such graffiti therefore would increase the pressure on limited resources."

Since making the statement, the graffiti has been painted over, but the pothole had not been filled in.