THE centre of a rural market town was brought to a standstill after a trailer shed its load of hay bales.

The trailer was being pulled by a tractor which had made its way through Barnard Castle and was following the main road along to Galgate when a rope holding the bales in place snapped.

It happened about 10am today (Thursday).

One eyewitness said: “It was very lucky there was no-one behind. The bales just rolled off the back and into the middle of the road.”

He added: “There was quite a bit of disruption and it was a bit chaotic in the town centre for a while.”