Luton's new 'emerging from grey' mural painted over in error

A mural depicting a town "emerging out of the grey" has been painted over with grey paint by mistake.

Artist Aimi Rix is "devastated" after the piece she created in Luton on Friday was painted over on Sunday.

She said the background colour was an "ironic" element of the Arts Council-funded mural, but staff at The Mall shopping centre had misunderstood.

The centre said a communication error left the operational team thinking the artwork was "unauthorised".

It is now due to be re-painted next week.

Ms Rix, from Little Red Creative, said: "I used the grey to represent Luton's grey background and the hand was the artistic hand emerging in a colourful explosion from the grey. "

The piece took "months" to prepare and was located on Church Street, close to St Mary's Church.

"At the time I was absolutely devastated, and The Mall was equally devastated," she said.

Roy Greening, general manager for The Mall Luton said: "In an unfortunate turn of events, our operational team, believing this to be unauthorised and acting with [unusual] speed, painted the wall.

"We are of course, sorry this has happened, and are supporting and working with Aimi to rectify things as soon as possible."