BUNGLING council bosses got in a right mess when they gave a top environment award to a local village.
Chiefs at Durham County Council asked workers to install signs and an engraved plaque in Thornley, East Durham, when it scooped the coveted Tidy Village crown.
Residents were puzzled how they had won the title - until they discovered it was meant for a hamlet with the same name 30 miles away in the Durham dales.
Council officials had failed to check there were two villages called Thornley in County Durham.
Thornley Councillor Brian Wilson thought there was something wrong when he saw the village had been declared "tidy".
He said: "I knew when I saw the signs it couldn't be true. We might win the untidiest village at the moment, but definitely not the tidiest."
A council spokesman said: "This was a genuine mistake."
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