FOUR lorry drivers have been prosecuted for illegally using a narrow lane in a village.

The road through Ainderby Quernhow, near Thirsk, provides a short-cut between the A1 and the A61.

In 1992, North Yorkshire County Council made a regulation to prohibit commercial vehicles weighing more than seven and a half tonnes from using the road unless making a delivery.

Villagers say the restriction is being increasingly ignored by drivers, and have complained to their MP, Anne McIntosh, and the county council.

In February, the authority announced its trading standards department was to target the area.

Yesterday, four drivers were fined for exceeding the weight limit on the road.

Trading standards officer Len Swift told Northallerton Magistrates' Court: "Recently, enforcement work has been carried out by trading standards at the request of local residents concerned that the restriction was being ignored."

The four drivers pleaded guilty in writing. None appeared at the hearings.

Frederick Alan Hillary, 56, of Thoralby, Leyburn, was fined £175 and ordered to pay £142.38 costs for driving a 32-tonne wagon through the village on November 9 last year.

Andrew Dodsworth, 43, of Oak Grove, Northallerton, was fined £175 with £122.10 costs for driving a 17-tonne lorry through the village on February 19.

Christopher Burrell, 38, of Queen Gardens, Sowerby, was fined £175 with £126.38 costs for driving a 32-tonne lorry through the village on December 13.

Peter Adlington, 65, of Turker Lane, Northallerton, was fined £100 with £87.90 costs for driving a 17-tonne truck through the village on January 16.