MOTORISTS have just over five weeks of free driving left to one of the region's World Heritage Sites.

From Tuesday, October 1, they will have to pay £2 to reach Durham Cathedral and Castle on the country's first toll road.

Officials, who announced the starting date yesterday, hope the "access charge'' will halve the amount of traffic on the narrow roads from the Market Place to the peninsula.

They say it will help reduce accidents and make busy Saddler Street safer for pedestrians.

Drivers who do not pay the toll face a £30 fine but Durham County Council, which planned the scheme, will take a softly softly approach in the early days.

Council leader Ken Manton said : "There has been no way of testing the scheme in advance of it going live, so it's going to be new to everyone involved.

"As is often the case with new systems and procedures, there may be initial teething problems so we are all going to have to be tolerant of each other during the first week or so.

"During the first six months, a member of staff will be present at the pay machine to help drivers with any difficulties they may have."

The toll will apply from 10am to 4pm, Mondays to Saturdays, but residents, the 999 services, security and post vehicles will be exempt.

The disabled will be exempt only if they get a permit from the establishment they are visiting, have a parking space reserved for them and inform the NCP parking shop in North Road.

Taxis and university students who live on the peninsula will not be spared the toll.

The council says it has sent residents and other properties in the area details on exemption permit applications.

The toll will part fund the new Cathedral Bus service to the cathedral and the city's Shopmobility scheme.