Alicja Ziemowit, one resident of Lodz, Poland, arrived back home to discover that the local council had built a new road complete with traffic island in her back garden.

When she complained she was told that a change in the law meant that local council officials could now use private land for road building without consent or compensation. A council spokesman said, "I don't know why she is complaining, it is not a busy road, and she can still get to the back of her garden quite easily." She will surely enjoy relaxing on the hard shoulder and could now perhaps open a roadside stall to sell cappuccinos to workers at the new computer factory down the road.

Lodz council added, humourlessly, "She still owns the land, it just has a road on it now."