Vital repair work on one of the region's most dangerous railway bridges will finally get under way next week - seven years after safety concerns were first raised.

The decaying bridge barrier at Dalton-on-Tees, near Darlington, has been the scene of at least two serious accidents when vehicles have ploughed into the flimsy wooden fencing shielding drivers from the railway line.

It was earmarked as the top priority for repairs by council chiefs in January, but work being carried out on the site by Northern Electric had set the project back even further.

However, North Yorkshire County Council has now announced that work will take place from Monday to Friday next week.

Last May, a pick-up truck crashed into the fencing only yards from the railway line in an incident which could have led to a disaster on the same scale as the Selby tragedy.

And in February, angry villagers told how they had brought the state of the bridge to the attention of the authorities seven years ago - only to be told it would be too costly to make repairs.