THE system of licensing autumn animal movements was in chaos in the North-East last night, leaving hundreds of angry farmers in the dark.

Officials at Durham County Council admitted that computer software loaned by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) had not worked correctly since the scheme began on September 24.

The Northern Echo has learned that up until yesterday morning only four cattle licences had been successfully processed in the county.

Hundreds more applications have remained frozen in the system - introduced as a result of the foot-and-mouth crisis - trapping farmers desperate to move their stock in the critical pre-winter period.

A source at the council said: "The equipment has never worked from day one and we have been tearing our hair out.

"Defra won't let us issue licences manually, and they have now finally admitted that the problems are all their fault."

Phillip Holman, head of consumer services at the council, said: "These problems have not been of our making and we have done our damnedest to make things work."

New applications were now being dealt with, but the computer system was still not fully repaired.

Bull breeder Alan Scott, who farms in Teesdale and is a county councillor, said he was still awaiting the result of five licensing applications.

He said: "The situation has been atrocious."

John Rider, chairman of the North Riding and Durham National Farmers Union, said: "This has been a cock-up of monumental proportions. Defra has sent out software that has not been up to the job."

Hundreds of autumn animal movement licences have been issued in North Yorkshire, but officials there said they were also struggling to get to grips with the process.

Robin Mair, principal officer for the licensing scheme in the county, said: "There have been a number of problems with the software given to local authorities by Defra."

A Defra spokesman accepted there had been difficulties, but a total of 12,670 licences had been issued nationwide.

He said: "There are still problems within the system which generally relate to data concerning individual premises which has not married with the information we have.

"Some areas have also been worse than others, and the North-East region has been one of the slowest to get started."

The news came as Government officials admitted that one million farm animals had been needlessly slaughtered in the foot-and-mouth battle.

Read more about foot-and-mouth here.