DRIVERS ferrying carcases to the foot-and-mouth disease incinerator at Catterick Garrison have been urged not to park up in a lorry park at nearby Colburn.

Claims that trailers loaded with carcases have parked on the site as drivers waited for a slot at the incinerator on Hipswell Moor are being investigated by environment officials from Richmondshire District Council and the Ministry of Defence.

Coun Peter Wood, who represents Colburn on the district council, said: "From time to time we have had reports of trailers parking overnight on the lorry park with the carcasses on board. People are very concerned."

"Wagons from all over the country pull into the lorry park and could so easily spread the disease."

Mr Martin Garside, the council's environment unit manager, said trailers full of carcases were supposed to travel straight to the incinerator."

His unit would monitor activity at the site, through local councillors, and the matter had been taken up with the army, on whose land the incinerator stood.