Sadberge villagers are bewildered by the sudden axing of a chiropody service which has been running smoothly for 36 years.

The newly-established GP and nurse-led Sedgefield Primary Care Trust has told them that their village hall does not conform to health and safety rules.

Coun Beatrice Cuthbertson, chairman of the parish council, said: "I have been running the clinic since 1966 when our OAP group applied to Durham County Council for a chiropodist and day visits by doctors.

"There has been no consultation about this, just an 11-line letter thanking me and saying the hall didn't meet health and safety standards.

"We have disabled access, a disabled toilet and two surgeries a week by GPs."

"What people will have to do in the short term is to go on the bus to Park Place in Darlington if they don't have a car. Either that or go to the Middleton St George surgery. That means getting a bus into Darlington to get there.

"The ages of the people who use the clinic are between 65 and 93 and one of them is registered blind."

She has asked the parish council and the village hall committee to write to the trust.

"The countryside march wasn't just about hunting but the erosion of rural services, and this is another," she added.

Coun Cuthbertson is now investigating the possibility of getting a mobile service.

Paul Irving, Sedgefield's director of primary care and community services, told the D&S Times: "We recognise the need to provide and maintain high-quality care for patients in our area. The services on offer at the Sadberge and Heighington sites do not meet minimum health and safety standards.

"Clients of these services have been offered alternative appointments at other podiatry clinics nearest to their homes."