A DANGEROUS railway bridge was brought to the attention of the authorities seven years ago, it emerged last night.

Peter Raybould said he contacted the local council and the police to complain about the bridge, at Dalton-on-Tees, North Yorkshire. But he was told it was too costly to instigate any repairs or improve the road layout.

Mr Raybould, who lives a few hundred yards from the bridge, said he wanted to see traffic lights and speed bumps to slow approaching traffic.

Last month, North Yorkshire County Council committed money to improve the fragile wooden bridge barriers.

Scores of bridge approaches on roads crossing the East Coast Mainline were identified last year by The Northern Echo as needing urgent repairs.

On Monday, the Health and Safety Commission and the Highways Authority recommended a risk assessment plan to look at railway bridge safety.

A protocol is also to be developed by June to clear up confusion over who is responsible for improvements to roads close to railway lines.

The reports were called for in the wake of last February's Selby rail disaster in which ten people died. A Land Rover driven by Gary Hart crashed through barriers and ended up on the East Coast Mainline.

North Yorkshire County Council, in line with its Durham counterpart, is carrying out repairs to a number of bridges, in some cases where responsibility for improvements is not clear.

A spokesman said the Dalton-on-Tees bridge, which has been the scene of at least two serious accidents, would have redesigned crash barriers in place by the end of next month.

He indicated that the authority was also looking at other measures to make the approach to the bridge "as safe as possible".