RESIDENTS of a Merseyside street were shocked to find the name of their street had been 'changed' without them being told.

On Tuesday, it appeared to people living on Keighley Avenue in Wallasey that their street had become 'Knightly Avenue' without anyone letting them know.

The council has now said the move, carried out by its contractor this week, was a blunder, with the change coming after the street’s old signs were lost following them coming loose from the wall.

Residents of the Wirral street asked the council to replace the signs months ago, but were 'gobsmacked' when they saw the new one this week.

Chris Bromley said: “My wife phoned up the council back in February, and was told they would put it down as a job, and eventually in April we were told it would actually be done.

“We’ve recently been on holiday and came back to see our street was now called Knightly Avenue not Keighley. I thought ‘oh my god’. I laughed – I was gobsmacked.”

Dad-of-one Chris, who works as a security supervisor, has lived on the street near Wallasey Village train station for 17 years.

He added: “We used to have a sign on each side but both came off.

“I can’t believe the council have actually put that in especially after we phoned them up, gave the postcode and full address.

“I’ve never heard of Knightly Avenue, I’m not sure why they’d want to call it that. It was a complete surprise.”

Mary Godsell has lived on the street for 20 years. She said: “People from occupational health coming to our house didn’t know where to go and Tesco deliveries have found it difficult to find our street recently as the signs had fallen off.

“But they’ve got this new sign in and spelt it completely wrong, so it’s even more confusing now, isn’t it? After all these months without it, we get this. It’s ridiculous.”

When contacted for comment, a council spokesman said the name of the street had not been changed, but that an incorrect sign was put up in error by its contractor.

He added: “It will be removed and replaced with the correct sign as soon as possible.”