Motorists 'put in danger by lack of grit' on popular moorland road

FAILURE to regularly grit one of Teesdale’s most perilous routes has triggered a campaign to get the job done properly.

Garage owner Jed Collins has had to help dozens of motorists out of ditches, snow drifts and trees on The Stang when bad weather strikes.

The 67-year-old, from East Hope, wants gritters to lay down salt on the Teesdale side of the 1700ft hill but he says his pleas have fallen on deaf ears for years.

North Yorkshire County Council grit the southern flank of The Stang with Durham County Council left to look after the Teesdale side.

But the dale side is often left ungritted with piles of salt left by the side of the road.

Mr Collins, who is clerk of Hope parish meeting, has tried to get the two authorities to step in and complete the whole job. He said: “It happened again – we had snow on the Friday (November 24) and the Yorkshire side was salted so we finished up with a clear road up to the summit.

“But then we were onto hard packed ice on the other side. There is no salt and it is very steep with double bends – that’s when it’s at its most dangerous. On the Saturday it was just the same.”

Weekend tourists travelling over The Stang in two-wheeled drive cars get stuck the most often but sometimes the weather can trip up well-versed residents.

Mr Collins added: “I had to help three or four people on Friday and Saturday after I’d finished work. We can get a snowstorm up here that you don’t get anywhere else and people come up this road unprepared for the conditions.

“I have written to the council on many occasions and I’ve tried as much as I can – they just take no notice and laugh at you.”

The County Durham side of The Stang is classed as a “priority 2” route, meaning it is only gritted in prolonged severe weather or when “resources become available”.

Hope parish meeting and Arkengarthdale Parish Council teamed up three years ago to try to convince the two county authorities to work together and alternate their gritting of the whole hill to solve the problem.

But Mr Collins said the effort soon petered out.

“They made all the right noises but it went away

again and had no effect,” he added. The Teesdale side of the hill was gritted for the first time this season last Thursday (November 30) by Boldron contractor John Tiplady.

But he can only go out when instructed by the county council. Mr Collins said he’d considered erecting signs on The Stang asking motorists to tell Durham County Council if they’d got stuck to try and force a change.

As well as residents and farm owners, Glaxosmithkline employees regularly use the route to make the journey over to Barnard Castle from Yorkshire. East Hope’s Joanne Smith also felt left out by Durham County Council.

She said: “The binmen have not come today and they were supposed to come this morning. “ She also pointed to the salt mounds left at the roadside which were already running low.

Ms Smith added: “Once they’ve come they never come and fill them up again so generally there isn’t any left.

“I think they think because we live up here it’s our own fault but we all pay our council tax. My dad is in hospital at the moment and the district nurses need to be able to get up here – I do think we get forgotten about.”

Brian Buckley, strategic highways manager at Durham County Council, said: “We grit as many of our roads as we can to keep the county moving and safe during winter weather. Our priority 1 gritting routes cover 45 per cent of the county’s road network, or more than 1,000 miles, which is one of the highest levels of coverage in the UK, and our priority 2 gritting routes cover an extra 10 per cent, or over 200 miles during periods of prolonged severe winter weather.

“This road is on a priority 2 gritting route and was treated this week.”