PRIME Minister Tony Blair was last night challenged to sort out the confusion surrounding the outcome of four disused US naval ships heading for the North-East to be scrapped.

Shadow Environment Secretary David Lidington called on Mr Blair to intervene after Transport Secretary Alistair Darling said his department was unable to force the vessels to return to America.

Councillors in Hartlepool wrote to Mr Darling yesterday after holding a full council meeting to discuss the imminent arrival of the first two ships from the so-called Ghost Fleet.

They voted unanimously to call on Mr Darling to use his powers to re-route the ships, which have been condemned by environmentalists as a toxic hazard.

After the meeting, council chairman Carl Richardson said: ''Clearly, Hartlepool councillors are firmly of the view that the ships cannot be allowed to enter British waters given that there are a number of permissions not in place.

''This is a view shared by Environment Minister Elliot Morley, the Environment Agency and many other organisations and individuals."

The council has already made it clear that the necessary planning permission was not in place to enable the ships to be dismantled in a dry dock at the Graythorp yard.

The Department for Transport said yesterday: ''Enforcement action in respect of these vessels is for the Environment Agency and not for the Secretary of State for Transport.

"The powers of the Department's Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) relate to the seaworthiness of the ships.

''Under the Merchant Shipping Act 1995, the Transport Secretary can only intervene to secure the safety of ships or to prevent or reduce pollution when ships are in territorial waters."

Critics claim Mr Darling's stance is at odds with that of Morley, who said on Monday the vessels should be repatriated until complications have been resolved. Mr Lidington said: "The confusion at the heart of Government gets even worse over this.

"Tony Blair is a North-East MP. If his ministers can't agree themselves over how to resolve this environmental crisis he should knock heads together and make clear who in Government is in charge of sorting out this mess."

Yesterday, the US Maritime Administration (MARAD) said the passage of the ships - part of a fleet of 13 contracted to be dismantled at Able - will continue.

Able managing director Peter Stephenson said he was "very surprised" by the council's sudden U-turn, and blamed exaggerations in the media for forcing a change of heart.

* Friends of the Earth will today ask the High Court in London to quash a modification to a waste management licence allowing the work to go ahead.

At the same time three Hartlepool residents are applying to the court for an immediate injunction to stop the dismantling work being carried out on the ships.