So giving a young artist a grant to brighten up a Birmingham underpass and teach people about art at the same time must have seemed like a good idea.

But the installation did not go according to plan. Having secured the council's permission to makeover Easy Row subway on Fletchers Walk with pop art print wallpaper, Tom Bloor spent last Monday pasting up his design, only to return the next day to find council cleaners removing it because a member of the public had mistaken it for flyposting.

"I did pretty much the whole wall," said Bloor, who graduated with a fine art degree from Leeds University in 2002. "I got there later than I intended the next day, and they were just scraping off the last bits.

"I was pretty horrified. I told them I had permission and they got on the phone to their department."

Bloor, 31, said he had almost been arrested for flyposting while working on the project. "It is only due to be in place for six weeks because of the likelihood of it being vandalised. But I didn't expect it to be vandalised by the city council before I had even finished it."

The accidental destruction coincided with news that Birmingham had been awarded a £2.1m lottery grant to help promote urban culture.

"Someone complained about flyposting in the subway," said a council spokeswoman yesterday. "We have sincerely apologised for the breakdown in communication."

She said Bloor had resumed work on the subway.

Useful links
Birmingham city council
Press release: £2.1m boost for arts in Birmingham