White lines, red lines, yellow lines, dashed lines and dotted lines may be the bane of every urban driver in the UK, but the spate of road-painting is set to get even more irritating if a US phenomenon finds its way to Britain.

Canny advertisers in Colorado have started buying up space on the white lines demarking parking bays, and are plastering them in slogans promoting their latest wares.

The first wave of messages heralds the return of Desperate Housewives to American telly which, given the likely clientele of out-of-town grocery shoppers, seems to be rather apt.

But we reckon there's scope for more useful messages. 'No loose change for the meter? The nearest shop is half a mile that way', perhaps, or 'The only reason we made this bay so small is so that we could laugh as we watch you try to squeeze out the door'.

However, Top Gear fears it may all be a devious ploy by parking attendants to distract drivers momentarily while they slap tickets on their cars.

There's only one way to combat this wave of intrusive marketing, people: park over the lines. Haphazard, wayward parking, obscuring any hint of a line beneath. Business as usual, then?